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Title: Dry deposition and resuspension of aerosol particles - a new look at some old problems

Journal Article · · ERDA Symp. Ser.; (United States)
OSTI ID:5579245

Some problem areas in the study of dry deposition and resuspension of aerosol particles are viewed from a different perspective. First some inferences are made about possible aerosol particle log-area distributions that could be found in the atmosphere and qualitatively about the roles of dry deposition and resuspension. The dry deposition process in each of five layers a through e (aloft, boundary, canopy, deposition, and edaphic layers) is considered separately, and it appears that the overall process could be rate limited in any one (or more) of these layers. Two simple models for dry deposition to a smooth surface and to a canopy are presented. For the resuspension problem, suggestions are made that a kinetic equation for the soil particle size distribution should be explored further, that the critical u(*) required to move small particles may have an aerodynamic interpretation, that the soil particle size distribution dictates the saltation flux particle size distribution except for very large (approx 1 mm) particles, and that the convective diffusion equation is incapable of describing the suspended particle size distribution. A simple model is proposed for simultaneous deposition with some resuspension. The paper closes with an attempt to explain the physically meaningful variability of the resuspension factor.

OSTI ID:
5579245
Journal Information:
ERDA Symp. Ser.; (United States), Vol. 38
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English