The war in Kosovo - Evidence of pollution transport in the Balkans during operation "Allied Force"

During the operation "Allied Force" in the spring of 1999, the hurtling or damaging of industrial and military targets in the Former Republic of Yugos lavia resulted in the release of a large number of chemicals into the atmos phere. The releases contained not only conventional air pollutants, but als o Semi-Volatile Organic compounds (SVOs) which are known to be hazardous to health. Under suitable meteorological conditions, these chemicals can be t ransported across borders over large distances. In this paper, an analysis of measurements and dispersion calculations is presented which provides evi dence of pollutant transport from the conflict area to Greece. The measurin g program was carried out in Xanthi, Greece and included aerosol sampling a nd subsequent analysis for the determination of the concentration of SVOs i ncluding dioxins, furans, PCBs (PolyChlorinated. Biphenyls), PAI-Is (Polycy clic Aromatic Hydrocarbons) and organic phthalates. This paper focuses on two episodes of organic phthalates that were observed during the conflict period. Pollution measurements are interpreted by mean s of air trajectories and dispersion calculations. For this purpose, the HY SPLIT_4 (HYbrid Single-Particle Langrangian integrated Trajectory) modeling system is used to calculate the dispersion of toxic substances.