Inputs Hudson River

To assess the relative importance of the volatilisation removal process of APs from estuarine water, Van Ry et al. constructed a box model to estimate the input and removal fluxes for the Hudson estuary. Inputs of NPs to the bay are advection by the Hudson river and air-water exchange (atmospheric deposition, absorption). Removal processes are advection out, volatilisation, sedimentation and biodegradation. Most of these processes could be estimated only the biodegradation rate was obtained indirectly by closing the mass balance. The calculations reveal that volatilisation is the most important removal process from the estuary, accounting for 37% of the removal. Degradation and advection out of the estuary account for 24 and 29% of the total removal. However, the actual importance of degradation is quite uncertain, as no real environmental data were used to quantify this process. The residence time of NP in the Hudson estuary, as calculated from the box model, is 9 days, while the residence time of the water in the estuary is 35 days [16]. 

Table 13.7 Estimates of inputs of organic matter (g C m-2 y-1) from non-point sources in the watershed to the tidal, freshwater Hudson River.

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