Assessment of the atmospheric concentration of pollutants evaporated from the soil

A model for pollutant redistribution in the soil-atmosphere system is suggested for the case of the local pollution of the underlying surface. The vertical migration of soil pollution is described with a convection-diffusion equation in the sorbing medium, supposing an instantaneous equilibrium is established between the pollutant phases in the soil. The Monin-Obukhov similarity theory for the surface atmospheric layer, modified for the case of limited pollution of the underlying surface, is used to parametrize the pollutant transport and dispersion in the atmosphere. A characteristic feature of the model is its ability to calculate the air pollution concentrations over the polluted soil surface. The model was tested on the results of a field experiment with volatile pesticides.