Global distillation

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Global distillation or the grasshopper effect is the geochemical process by which certain chemicals, most notably persistent organic pollutants (POPs), are transported from warmer to colder regions of the Earth, particularly the Poles and mountain tops. Global distillation explains why relatively high concentrations of POPs have been found in the Arctic environment and in the bodies of animals and people who live there, even though most of the chemicals have not been used in the region in appreciable amounts.[1]


The global distillation process can be understood using the same principles that explain distillations used to make liquor or purify chemicals in a laboratory. In these processes, a substance is vaporized at a relatively high temperature, and then the vapor travels to an area of lower temperature where it condenses. A similar phenomenon occurs on a global scale for certain chemicals. When these chemicals are released into the environment, some amount evaporates when ambient temperatures are warm, blows around on winds until temperatures are cooler, and then condensation occurs. Drops in temperature large enough to result in deposition can occur when chemicals are blown from warmer to cooler climates, or when seasons change. The net effect is atmospheric transport from low to high latitude and altitude. Since global distillation is a relatively slow process that relies on successive evaporation/condensation cycles, it is only effective for semi-volatile chemicals that break down very slowly in the environment, like DDT, polychlorinated biphenyls, and lindane.

Effect of global distillation[edit]

Several studies have measured the effect, usually by correlating the concentrations of a certain chemical in air, water, or biological specimens from various parts of the world with the latitude from which the samples were collected. For example, the levels of PCBs, hexachlorobenzene, and lindane measure in water, lichens, and tree bark have been shown to be greater in higher latitudes.[2]

The effect is also used to explain why certain pesticides are found in Arctic and high altitude samples even though there is no agricultural activity in these areas,[3] and why indigenous peoples of the Arctic have some of the highest body burdens of certain POPs ever measured. New studies, however, revealed that the relatively high levels in cold regions are determined by slower degradation compared to warm regions.[4][5]

See also[edit]

Stockholm Convention


  1. ^ "Ridding the world of POPs: A guide to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants" (PDF). United Nations Environment Programme. April 2005. Retrieved 2008-06-06. 
  2. ^ Simonich SL, Hites RA (September 1995). "Global distribution of persistent organochlorine compounds". Science 269 (5232): 1851–4. doi:10.1126/science.7569923. PMID 7569923. 
  3. ^
  4. ^ Schenker, Scheringer, Hungerbühler: Do Persistent Organic Pollutants reach a thermodynamic equilibrium in the global environment? Environmental Science & Technology, 2014, doi:10.1021/es405545w.
  5. ^ Fabio Bergamin: The result of slow degradation, ETH News, 2014.

Further reading[edit]

Cone, Marla (2006). Silent Snow: The Slow Poisoning of The Arctic. Grove Press. ISBN 0-8021-4259-1. 

External links[edit]