Mountain cold-trapping

Keywords Alpine lakes. Long-range transport. Mountain cold-trapping. Persistent Organic Contaminants, POPs... 

Atmospheric Transport and Mountain Cold-Trapping of Persistent... 

Grimalt and coworkers have used a variety of data interpretation techniques to show the influence of lake temperature and lake altitude on POC concentrations in fish [4, 59, 60, 63, 64]. It is important to bear in mind that all sorts of factors may be contributing to differences in the concentrations of POC in fish from different lakes, including the distance of the lakes from POC source regions [11]. Such factors may confound a interpretation of increasing POC concentrations in fish with altitude in terms of mountain cold-trapping. For example, the age of organisms is a factor in... 

As early as 1961 scientists looked for and found measurable levels of POCs, indeed POCs that would become classified as POPs, in human fat and by 1965 in human breast milk [77]. While something of a surprise at the time, the current understanding of bioaccumulation and biomagnification explain this, as humans tend to eat high in the food web. For people reliant on alpine sources for food then, it is possible that they are exposed to higher levels of certain POCs, i.e. those that are subject to efficient mountain cold-trapping, than are people nearer to the POC sources. 

Closed locations are enclosed on all sides by woods, bouses, bills or mountains, etc. The lack of air movement leads to an increased incidence of disease and pests. These locations are also subject to a severe risk of frost because they trap cold air. 

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