Environmental chemistry of organic compounds in air, precipitation, and water

Thesis/Dissertation · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1984

OSTI ID:5861738

Hutte, R S

Precipitation is an important mechanism for the removal of organic compounds from the atmosphere. Snow and rain samples collected at an urban and a rural site have been analyzed to identify and quantify volatile and extractable organic compounds. Hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, terpenes, alcohols, carboxylic acids and phenols from natural and anthropogenic sources have been found in snow and rain. Most of these compounds are associated with particulate matter that is removed from the atmosphere by precipitation. The organic constituents of urban precipitation are primarily of anthropogenic orgin, but there is a small, but significant, contribution from natural sources. At a remote mountainous site in Colorado the organic compounds isolated from precipitation samples appear to arise predominantly from natural sources. Most hydrophobic vapor-phase organic compounds are not significantly removed by precipitation and are not, in general, detected in snow and rain. The removal of airborne particulate matter by precipitation results in the deposition of substantial quantities (..mu..g/m/sup 2/hr) of organic compounds were found to be approximately the same as previously determined values for inorganic species in the atmosphere.

• OSTI ID: 5861738
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

500200* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ALCOHOLS
AROMATICS
ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY
ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS
CARBOXYLIC ACIDS
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
CHEMISTRY
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
HYDROCARBONS
HYDROXY COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC ACIDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PARTICLES
PARTICULATES
PHENOLS
REMOVAL
TERPENES