Prediction of rainwater acidity using trace element concentrations

Conference · Thu Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1988 · Preprints of Papers Presented at National Meeting, Division of Water, Air and Waste Chemistry, American Chemical Society; (USA)

OSTI ID:7166237

Vong, R J; Peterson, R E ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Washington, Seattle (USA)

It is of interest to be able to estimate the contribution of an anthropogenic emission source to downwind rainwater chemistry. The authors here consider the closure of a large copper smelter which operated in a region where background and other emission sources should contribute smaller amounts of atmospheric sulfur than the smelter. An additional simplification existed in that meteorology associated with rain was relatively well known and consistent. A field experiment was conducted in the winters of 1985 and 1986 to collect rainwater at sites upwind and downwind of the Tacoma, Washington smelter. The smelters SO{sub 2} emissions, their conversion to SO{sub 4}= via three oxidants (O{sub 3}, H{sub 2}O{sub 2}, and O{sub 2} - Fe catalyzed reactions), diffusion, transport, and aerosol/gas scavenging previously have been estimated while adjusting model parameters until the predictions fit the rainwater data. To take advantage of the unique experimental design afforded by the closure of the smelter, statistical analysis was performed on NO{sub 3}-, SO{sub 4}(xs)= (excess of seasalt), and pH data; analysis of variance (ANOVA) confirmed that the smelter had a significant (p < .01) influence on rainwater pH and SO{sub 4}(xs). The analysis presented here extends the ANOVA by applying a multivariate regression technique to new data for trace element concentrations for the same rain samples. To predict rainwater acidity, they derive fingerprints from trace element data, identify a source or process related to that fingerprint, and compare the predicted contributions for pre- and post- closure samples.

• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 7166237
• Report Number(s): CONF-8909230--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Preprints of Papers Presented at National Meeting, Division of Water, Air and Waste Chemistry, American Chemical Society; (USA) Journal Volume: 28:2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540120* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring &amp; Transport-- (1990-)
ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY
ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
CHEMISTRY
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
FORECASTING
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
MASS TRANSFER
MATHEMATICS
MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS
NITRATES
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PH VALUE
PRECIPITATION SCAVENGING
QUANTITATIVE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
RAIN
RAIN WATER
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SMELTERS
STATISTICS
SULFATES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
TRACE AMOUNTS
WATER