Abstract
During recent years much effort has concentrated on the physical and chemical behaviour of the oxides of nitrogen and sulphur in the atmosphere in order to aid understanding of the formation, transport and deposition of acidity on to potentially sensitive ecosystems. Nitric acid is an important product of atmospheric nitrogen chemistry but relatively little information is available on which to judge its fate in the atmosphere. Here, we present some preliminary data on the gas phase concentrations of nitric acid for a rural site in central southern England. Measurements of the dry deposition flux of this acid are also given. The concentration of nitric acid was found to vary both diurnally and seasonally. From the dry deposition measurements it was found that there was little or no surface resistance to deposition and derived deposition velocities were considerably higher than those often quoted for other pollutant gases. It is concluded that the dry deposition flux of nitric acid constitutes an important input of acidity to ground surfaces.
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Dollard, G., Atkins, D., Davies, T. et al. Concentrations and dry deposition velocities of nitric acid. Nature 326, 481–483 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1038/326481a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/326481a0
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