Climate Change Forcing Buried Toxics Back Into Atmosphere: Scientists

"In places like the Arctic, cold temperatures trapped POPs in snow, soil and oceans capped by sea ice, as the long-lived pollutants circled through the region. Between the POPs (persistent organic pollutants) settling into the Arctic and other sinks — and the international campaign to regulate the chemicals — atmospheric levels of POPs steadily declined during the past decade.

New research, however, suggests that global warming is reversing this downward trend.

Climatologists at Environment Canada, the Canadian environmental agency, found that as climate change heats up oceans and melts sea ice and snow, the buried pollutants, known as legacy POPs, are being re-released back into the atmosphere."

Katherine Bagley reports for SolveClimate News July 25, 2011.