TA6 Atmospheric Transport and Fate
202 Oregon Ballroom
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM, Tuesday
() CANCUP: Canadian Atmospheric Network for Currently Used Pesticides.
Harner, T1, Tuduri, L1, Blanchard, P1, Waite, D2, Belzer, W3, Froude, F4, Murphy, C5, Poissant, L6, Sproull, J7, 1 Meteorological service of Canada, Toronto, Ontario, CANADA2 Environment Canada, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada3 Environment Canada, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada4 Center for Atmospheric research and Experiment, Egbert, Ontario, Canada5 Environment Canada, Charlottetown, prince edward island, Canada6 Meteorological service of Canada, Montreal, Quebec, Canada7 Environment Canada, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
ABSTRACT- CANCUP is an air sampling network funded by Environment Canada Pesticide Science Fund. This project, which integrates the efforts of collaborators in several regions (Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Ontario, Prairies, British Columbia) across Canada, assesses air concentrations and precipitation levels of currently-used pesticides (CUPs, for instance atrazine, metolachlor, trifluralin and alachlor) in agricultural and background regions across Canada over a three year period, 2003-2005. Currently, the lack of air measurements of CUPs in agricultural source regions impedes our ability to predict the transport and deposition of these chemicals to the Great Lakes basin and other sensitive environments. The objective of CANCUP is to provide this much needed information across Canada and to detail the spatial footprint and temporal trends of pesticides emanating from a key agricultural region in the Canadian prairies. Launching of this air sampling network will be presented. Preliminary results from the first year show that organophosphate insecticides such as malathion and chlorpyrifos were detected across Canada at concentrations ranging between hundreds and thousands of pg.m-3. Chlorothalonil, a more and more widely used fungicide reached ng.m-3 levels at sites in Eastern Canada. Trifluralin, which is incorporated into soil as a post emergence herbicide, was identified at all sites several weeks after it was applied. Lindane, which was not applied as a canola seed treatment this year in the prairies, was nevertheless detected at all the prairies sampling sites but at much lower concentrations compared to years when it was applied. Sampling strategies for the second year of CANCUP will also be presented and expectations from this network will also be defined
Key words: Atmosphere, Pesticides, precipitation, Canada