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Rainfall chemistry: long range transport versus below cloud scavenging. A two-year study at an inland station (Opme, France)

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Abstract

The present study investigates the chemical composition of wet atmospheric precipitation samples on a daily and an intra-event timescales in Opme, an experimental meteorological station located near Clermont-Ferrand, France. The samples have been collected from November 2005 to October 2007. A total of 217 rainwater samples, integrated for 24 h, were collected and analyzed for pH, conductivity, Na+, K+, Mg2+, NH +4 , Ca2+, Cl−, NO −3 , SO 2−4 , PO 3−4 and HCO −3 . The composition of the rainwater collected appeared to be controlled by the following potential sources: neutralisation process (association among calcium, ammonium with nitrate and sulphate), marine and terrestrial sources. In order to determine the role of long-range transport, the integrated events were classified according to four origins of air-masses: (1) West, (2) North and East, (3) South including Iberian and Italian Peninsulae and (4) local. This analysis allows identifying the source areas of the different association of elements defined. Although calcium is always dominant, total content of rainfall is variable and neutralisation process can be more or less efficient and specific. Rainout (long-range transport) and washout (below-cloud scavenging) were investigated through intra-event measurements of chemical species. Four rain-events have been selected according to the four classes of origins of air-masses. It appears that the first fractions are responsible for an important part of the chemical content of the whole event. Terrestrial species, locally emitted, induce the neutralisation process of acid species. Local meteorological conditions, such as wind’s speed and direction, play an important role as they could provoke recharges of the below cloud air column during the event.

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Aknowledgments

The authors thank the PREVOIR project financed by the Auvergne region for its material support and gratefully acknowledge the NOAA Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) for the provision of the HYSPLIT transport and dispersion model and/or READY website (http://www.arl.noaa.gov/ready.html) used in this publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université Clermont-Ferrand, Laboratoire Magmas et Volcans-CNRS UMR 6524, 5 rue Kessler, 63038, Cedex, Clermont-Ferrand, France

    Guillaume Bertrand & Hélène Celle-Jeanton

  2. Université Clermont-Ferrand, Laboratoire de Météorologie Physique-CNRS UMR 6016, II, 24 avenue des Landais, 63170, Aubière, France

    Paolo Laj

  3. Centre National de Recherche Météorologique, 42 avenue Gaspard Coriolis, 31057, Toulouse, France

    Jérôme Rangognio

  4. Université de Brest, CNRS, UMR 6538 Domaines Océaniques, Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer, Place Copernic, 29280, Plouzané, France

    Gilles Chazot

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  1. Guillaume Bertrand
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  2. Hélène Celle-Jeanton
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  3. Paolo Laj
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  4. Jérôme Rangognio
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  5. Gilles Chazot
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Correspondence to Guillaume Bertrand.

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Bertrand, G., Celle-Jeanton, H., Laj, P. et al. Rainfall chemistry: long range transport versus below cloud scavenging. A two-year study at an inland station (Opme, France). J Atmos Chem 60, 253–271 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10874-009-9120-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10874-009-9120-y

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