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Decrease in precipitation acidity resulting from decreased SO2−4 concentration

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Abstract

The effect of decreases in SO2 emissions on precipitation acidity has received much attention1–10, but there has been no direct quantification of how recent decreases in SO2 emissions in the northeastern and midwestern United States have affected precipitation acidity at a local site. Yet such quantification is an Simportant step in assessing the effectiveness of control measures for SO2 emissions. It is thought that recent decreases in SO2−4 concentration in precipitation at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest (HBEF), New Hampshire, USA, result from decreases in SO2 emissions. The effect of the SO2−4 decrease on precipitation acidity is obscured by long-term trends in other ions, which also influence acidity. Here we show that, given the observed trends in concentration of other ions, the H+ concentration in 1983 would have been nearly two-thirds higher than the measured values if the SO2−4 concentration had not decreased.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 06511, USA

    Lars O. Hedin

  2. Institute of Ecosystem Studies, The New York Botanical Garden, Box AB, Millbrook, New York, 12545, USA

    Lars O. Hedin & Gene E. Likens

  3. School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 06511, USA

    F. Herbert Bormann

Authors
  1. Lars O. Hedin
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  2. Gene E. Likens
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  3. F. Herbert Bormann
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Hedin, L., Likens, G. & Bormann, F. Decrease in precipitation acidity resulting from decreased SO2−4 concentration. Nature 325, 244–246 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1038/325244a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/325244a0

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