State of the Art 1 The War in Kosovo © ecomed publishers, D-86899 Landsberg, Germany and Ft. Worth/TX, USA • Tokyo, Japan • Mumbai, India • Seoul, Korea ESPR – Environ. Sci. & Pollut. Res. 7 nn – nn (2000) State of the Art The War in Kosovo Evidence of Pollution Transport in the Balkans During Operation "Allied Force" Dimitrios Melas 1 , Zerefos Christos 1 , Spyros Rapsomanikis 2 , Nikolaos Tsangas 3 , Alexandra Alexandropoulou 1 1 Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece 2 Environmental Engineering Department, Democritus University of Thrace, Xanthi, Greece 3 Department of Electronics and Computer Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace, Xanthi, Greece Corresponding author: Dimitrios Melas, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Physics Dept., Lab. of Atmospheric Physics, Thessaloniki-54006, Greece; e-mail: melas@ccf.auth.gr Many studies also focused on the release and transport of air chemicals during armed conflicts. Toward the end of the gulf war, Iraqi troops had set hundred of oil wells on fire which resulted in 4.6 million barrels of oil burning daily and in severe pollution episodes in this part of the world. Airborne aerosols reduced solar radiation by about 75% in the Persian Gulf (HOBBS and RADKE, 1992). Their long-range transport in the free troposphere took them as far as Ha- waii (BODHEINE et al., 1992). Airborne pollution from the Kuwait oil fires was detected at large distances from the source. For example, one thousand kilometers from Kuwait with ozone concentration in the plume exceeding background levels by about 50 ppbv and significant smoke levels also being detected (JOHNSON et al., 1991). A WMO (1992) as- sessment concluded that observed air pollution levels in the desert and in populated areas (in the desert) were compara- ble to those in industrial areas in the US, Europe and Japan. This paper investigates the possibility of trans-boundary trans- port of pollutants from the burning or damaging of industrial and military targets in the Former Republic of Yugoslavia (FYR) during operation "Allied Force" in the spring of 1999. Available information on targets indicated destruction of in- dustrial complexes, fuel production and storage facilities to- gether with ammunition stores. Hence, emitted pollutants should contain a variety of SVOs at much higher concentrations than any local or near-by sources. This paper focuses on organic phthalates that were measured at Xanthi, Greece. In addition to pollution measurements, air trajectories were calculated in order to investigate the origin of the polluted air masses. A more detailed picture of the pollutant transport was obtained by car- rying out dispersion calculations with the HYSPLIT_4 modeling system (DRAXLER and HESS, 1997 and 1998). 1 Background During the 77-day period of air-strikes, a large number of industrial and military facilities were destroyed (VUKMIROVIC, 1999). Despite the large publicity, targeting information is in- complete and quite often contradictory. However, Table 1 was compiled by cross-checking, whenever possible, the available information about destruction of targets that were notable and of importance as to their effects on the environment. DOI: http://dx.doi.or g/10.1065/espr2000.02.016 Abstract. During operation "Allied Force" in the spring of 1999, the burning or damaging of industrial and military targets in the Former Republic of Yugoslavia resulted in the release of a large number of chemicals into the atmosphere. The releases contained not only conventional air pollutants, but also Semi- Volatile Organic compounds (SVOs) which are known to be hazardous to health. Under suitable meteorological conditions, these chemicals can be transported across borders over large distances. In this paper, an analysis of measurements and dis- persion calculations is presented which provides evidence of pollutant transport from the conflict area to Greece. The meas- uring program was carried out in Xanthi, Greece and included aerosol sampling and subsequent analysis for the determination of the concentration of SVOs including dioxins, furans, PCBs (Polychlorinated Biphenyls), PAHs (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydro- carbons) and organic phthalates. This paper focuses on two episodes of organic phthalates that were observed during the conflict period. Pollution measure- ments are interpreted by means of air trajectories and disper- sion calculations. For this purpose, the HYSPLIT_4 (Hybrid Single Particle Langrangian Integrated Trajectory) modeling sys- tem is used to calculate the dispersion of toxic substances. Keywords: Air pollution; dioxins; environmental impacts of the war in Kosovo; furans; Hybrid Single Particle Langrangian In- tegrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT_4); HYSPLIT_4; (Kosovo, war; organic phthalates; PAHs; PCBs; pollutants; polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs); polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs); re- gional transport of air pollution; semi-volatile organic com- pounds (SVOs); SVOs; trans-boundary transport of pollutants; transport of pollutants; war in Kosovo Introduction It is fairly well understood that transboundary pollution of long-lived gases and aerosols is common and can be detected over larger areas, or even across continents. The cases of acid rain from Central Europe and the U.K. reaching Scan- dinavia (TARASSON, 1998), Sahara dust transport across the Atlantic (TALBOT et al., 1986), and South African bio-mass burning gases and aerosols reaching Australia (FISCHMAN et al., 1996), are well documented in the literature.