Participation of the Pennsylvania State University in the MAP3S precipitation chemistry network

Technical Report · Mon Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1991

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/7200452· OSTI ID:7200452

Lamb, D; de Pena, R G

The Meteorology Department of the Pennsylvania State University collected precipitation in central Pennsylvania for more than 14 years on behalf of the Multistate Atmospheric Power Production Pollution Study (MAP3S). The MAP3S protocol, based on the sampling of precipitation from individual meteorological events over a long period of time, has allowed both for the development of a chemical climatology of precipitation in the eastern region of the United States and for a vastly improved understanding of the atmospheric processes responsible for wet acidic deposition. The precipitation chemistry data from the Penn State MAP3S site provide evidence of links to the anthropogenic emissions of sulfur dioxide and oxidant precursors. There is now little doubt that the free acidity in the precipitation of the region is due to the presence of unneutralized sulfate in the aqueous phase. In the absence of significant sources of this sulfur species and in view of supplemental enrichment studies, it is concluded that the sulfate enters cloud and rain water primarily through the aqueous-phase oxidation of sulfur dioxide emitted into the air within the geographical region of deposition. Within the source region the local abundances of sulfur dioxide often exceed those of the oxidants, so the depositions of sulfate and free acidity tend to be modulated by the availability of the strong oxidants. As a consequence, the deposition of sulfate exhibits a very strong seasonal dependence and little response to changes in the emissions of sulfur dioxide.

• Research Organization: Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States). Dept. of Meteorology
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: FG02-85ER60294
• OSTI ID: 7200452
• Report Number(s): DOE/ER/60294-T2; ON: DE93001900
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS
200500 -- Fossil-Fueled Power Plants-- Environmental Aspects-- (1990-)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540120* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
AIR POLLUTION
AMMONIUM COMPOUNDS
ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS
DATA
DEPOSITION
DOCUMENT TYPES
FOSSIL-FUEL POWER PLANTS
INFORMATION
NITRATES
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NUMERICAL DATA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PH VALUE
POLLUTANTS
POLLUTION
POWER PLANTS
PROGRESS REPORT
STATISTICAL DATA
SULFATES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
THERMAL POWER PLANTS