The effects of meteorology on concentrations of acid aerosols

Conference · Sat Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1994

OSTI ID:197321

Zelenka, M P ^[1]; Suh, H H ^[2]

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1. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Research Triangle Park, NC (United States)
2. Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA (United States)

Ambient air samples of strong acid aerosol (H{sup +}), sulfate (SO{sub 4}{sup {minus}2}), ammonia (NH{sub 3}), and ammonium (NH{sub 4}{sup +}) were collected in Pittsburgh and uniontown, Pennsylvania during the summer of 1990. High correlations were found for both H{sup +} and SO{sub 4}{sup {minus}} concentrations between Pittsburgh and the semi-rural site in Uniontown. One possible implication is that acid aerosols and their precursors are regionally transported. To test this hypothesis, air samples from the Uniontown site were statistically analyzed for the meteorological relationships that resulted in episodic events of elevated ambient H{sup +} levels. Standard measures of atmospheric conditions in both Pittsburgh and Uniontown were used; they included temperature, pressure, relative humidity, wind speed and direction. Results show that the episodic events of elevated H{sup +} occurred with the same general set of meteorological conditions. The major meteorological variables which correlated with the episodes were the mean wind speed in Pittsburgh and the mean westerly wind component (U) at Uniontown. These two variables accounted for one-third of the variance.

• OSTI ID: 197321
• Report Number(s): CONF-9405167--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ACIDIFICATION
AIR POLLUTION
AIR POLLUTION MONITORING
AMMONIA
AMMONIUM COMPOUNDS
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
PENNSYLVANIA
PITTSBURGH
SULFATES