Nitric acid concentrations in southern California museums

Journal Article · Sun Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1990 · Environmental Science and Technology; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/es00077a009· OSTI ID:5468543

Salmon, L G; Nazaroff, W W; Ligocki, M P; Jones, M C; Cass, G R ^[1]

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1. California Institute of Technology, Pasadena (USA)

Measurements were made during two seasons at five Los Angeles area museums to determine the concentrations of nitric acid in outdoor and indoor air. Mean seasonal indoor nitric acid concentrations ranged from <0.1 to 1.5 {mu}g/m{sup 3} corresponding to less than 1-40% of the outdoor nitric acid concentration, depending on building construction and ventilation system design. A mathematical model was applied to determine whether indoor/outdoor HNO{sub 3} concentration ratios can be predicted from data on building parameters and ventilation system design. Good agreement between predicted and measured values was found. The rate of deposition of total inorganic nitrate onto vertical surfaces due to gas-phase plus aerosol-phase pollutants were measured and found to vary from 0.2 to 5.8 ng m{sup {minus}2} s{sup {minus}1}. Measurements indicate that nearly all of this deposition flux was delivered due to deposition of gas-phase species, but comparison to theoretical HNO{sub 3} transport calculations suggests that gaseous species in addition to HNO{sub 3} contribute to the observed accumulation of inorganic nitrate.

• OSTI ID: 5468543
• Journal Information: Environmental Science and Technology; (United States), Journal Name: Environmental Science and Technology; (United States) Vol. 24:7; ISSN ESTHA; ISSN 0013-936X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010900 -- Coal
Lignite
&amp; Peat-- Environmental Aspects
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540120* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring &amp; Transport-- (1990-)
AIR POLLUTION
BUILDINGS
CULTURAL OBJECTS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INDOOR AIR POLLUTION
INORGANIC ACIDS
MATHEMATICAL MANIFOLDS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NITRIC ACID
POLLUTANTS
POLLUTION
PUBLIC BUILDINGS
SEASONAL VARIATIONS
VARIATIONS