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.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Cox, R. A. J. Photochem. 25, 43–48 (1984).
Cox, R. A. & Penkett, S. A. in Acid Deposition (eds Beilke, S. & Elshort, A. J.) 58–83 (CEC, Brussels, 1983).
UK Acid Rain Review Group Report (Warren Spring Laboratory, Stevenage, 1983).
Goldan, P. D. et al. Almos. Envir. 17, 1335–1364 (1983).
Grosjean. D. Anal. Lett. 15, (A9) 783–796 (1982).
Eggleton, A. E. J. & Atkins, D. H. F. Results of the Teeside investigation UKAEA Report AERE-R 6983 (HMSO, London, 1972).
Appel, B. R., Tokiwa, T. & Haik, M. Atmos. Envir. 15, 283–289 (1981).
Harrison, R. M. & Pio, C. A. Tellus 35B, 155–159 (1983).
Stelson, A. W., Frielander, S. K. & Seinfeld, J. H. Atmos. Envir. 13, 369–371 (1979).
Huebert, B. J. & Robert, C. H. J. geophys. Res. 90, (D1) 2085–2090 (1985).
Garland, J. A. & Derwent, R. G. Q. J. R. met. Soc. 105, 169–183 (1979).
Garland, J. A. & Penkett, S. A. Atmos. Envir. 10, 1127–1131 (1976).
Cox, R. A., Derwent, R. G. & Sandalls, F. J. Some air pollution measurements made at Harwell, Oxfordshire during 1973–1975. UKAEA Report AERE-R 8329 (HMSO, London, 1976).
Huebert, B. J. in Precipitation Scavenging, dry deposition and resuspension Vol. 2 (Coordinators Pruppacher, H.R. Semonin, R. G. & Slinn, W. G. N.) 785–793 (Elsevier, New York, 1983).
Grennfelt, P. Atmos. Envir. 14, 311–316 (1980).
Meixner, F. X., Muller, K. P., Aheimer, G. & Hofken, K. D. Proc. COST action 611 Meet: ‘Pollutant cycles and transport: modelling and field experiments’ (eds de Leuw, F. A. A. M. & van Egmond, N. D.) 103–119 (RIVM Bilthoven, Netherlands, 1985).
Garland, J. A. Proc. R. Soc A354, 245–268 (1977).
Sehmel, G. A. Atmos. Envir. 14, 983–1011 (1980).
Meixner, F. X. in Proc. 2nd Meet. on Atmosphere Biosphere Interactions Mainz, 1986 (in the press).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
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
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/326481a0
This article is cited by
-
Evaluation of dry deposition of acidifying N compounds to vegetation
Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2015)
-
HNO3 deposition to a deciduous forest
Boundary-Layer Meteorology (1989)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.