Treesearch

Satellite imagery provides a convenient and inexpensive means for monitoring smoke plumes and evaluating inadvertant weather modification. Visual examination of LANDSAT-1 imagery for two sites in east-central Ohio indicates that, at times, a plume may extend nearly 48 km downwind and reach a width of six km. Density slicing techniques provide clues as to the particulate loading in a plume. The areal extent of plumes can be mapped and could be studied for adequate siting of ground stations in order to monitor the chemical quality of precipitation and evaluate the effects on the ecosystem....

Precipitation is currently collected by several methods, including several different designs of collection apparatus. We are investigating these differing methods and designs to determine which gives the most representative sample of precipitation for the analysis of some 25 chemical parameters. The experimental site, located in Ithaca, New York, has 22 collectors of 10 different designs. The designs include bulk (wet and dry deposition collected together), wet only (only rain and snow) and wet/dry (collects wet and dry deposition separately). In every sampling period, which varies from...

The main indicator for acidic substances in the atmosphere is, now as before, the pH of rainwater. Factors influencing the acidity of precipitation are discussed, using results of air monitoring stations in Germany.

The acid properties of particles have been investigated by means of measuring the content of mainly strong acid in leaching solutions of particle samples and in drain water from trees. The measurements are based on Gran's plot and on a study of its curvature.

A theoretical model describing the general interaction between atmospheric trace gases, such as SO2, NH3, CO2 and O2, chemical reactant gaseous product H2SO4 and hydrometeors containing NaCl is proposed to study a possible mechanism for hydrochloric acid production in non-precipitating cloud and the determination of the pH value of cloud droplets. Four different cloud droplet distributions have been used to estimate the upper limit of the amount of gaseous HCl released into the atmosphere resulting from the evaporation of cloud droplets. It is shown that the acid production and the amount...

Acidity of rain water is a major concern due to the progressive acidification of soils, its effect of flora and fauna and its corrosiveness to metals. Sulfur dioxide, through chemical transformations and atmospheric scavenging, is thought to be one of the major contributors to the acidity of rainwater. The straightforward oxidation of SO2 to SO4 in the presence of ammonia and metal oxides should lead to a resulting pH higher than what is usually encountered and also to much faster disappearance of SO2 during rain. These apparently contradictory conclusions may be reconciled by a more...

Standard procedures for determining the pH of rain samples usually involve substantial delays from the time of rainfall to the time of analysis. This assumes that no change in pH occurs during the storage period. We have found that this is not always true. We have determined that individual rain water samples possess a time dependent pH which can be correlated with the surface wind trajectories terminating at our sampling location (Schenectady, New York). Our preliminary investigations have identified four characteristic time dependent behaviors: 1) if the trajectories generally proceeded...

Atmospheric dust originates from three sources, terrestrial airborn matter, volcanic, and cosmic. Terrestrial natural dust makes up the main bulk reflecting the soil composition to 150 miles away. Soil erosion from flood plains, plowed fields and construction sites are the main source. Quartz, feldspar, the carbonates calcite and dolomite, and clay minerals are the components in decreasing order of frequency. Natural dust in the atmosphere interacts with rainwater converting the carbonates to benign gypsum (CaSO4·2 H2O). Naturally leached soils produce less calcite than unweathered...

It is a truism for the living environment that life cannot sustain itself on its own wastes. The environment has self-cleansing properties which permit the dilution, reconstitution, and reuse by other natural processes of waste. These self-operative properties are what produces the flow of dynamic change that renews what is renewable within nature. The forces for renewal are powerful but they are not infinite. Already mankind has found the means to disrupt them in part and, unless steps are promptly taken to counteract the present trends, mankind will inadvertently and indifferently risk...

Air pollution is an international problem of the greatest dimensions. The continuous expansion of production and consumption in modern society is accompanied by the steadily increasing emission of air pollutants of different types. It is generally recognized that air pollutants can be transported in substantial amounts over distances of 1000 - 2000 km. This phenomenon has been studied with special attention being focused on acid sulphur compounds, which are the main cause of acid precipitation.