Meteorological analyses of acidic precipitation in Ontario

Abstract

Meteorological analyses of precipitation and air quality data for the period 1976 to 1983 have been undertaken to infer potential source regions of acidity in Ontario. Techniques such as air parcel trajectory modelling and synoptic weather classification have been utilized. A meteorological data acquisition system has been implemented to provide historical and real-time trajectory statistics. This paper provides an overview of these studies. For areas of South and Central Ontario, precipitation events most commonly occur with pre-warm front and cyclonic situations, and trajectories from the south and southwest octants. Furthermore, most of the reported wet deposition of S and N is associated with trajectories from these octants, the direction of the Ohio Valley industrial source region and industrialized SW Ontario. High air concentrations of S and N are also associated with trajectories from these octants.