Acid wet deposition in the Tropics : two case studies using DEBITS measurements.Acid rain.

12-17 juin 200

Precipitation chemistry in semi-arid areas of Southern Africa: a case study of a rural and an industrial site

Experimental data on the precipitation chemistry in the semi-arid savanna of South Africa is presented in this paper. A total of 901 rainwater samples were collected with automatic wet-only samplers at a rural site, Louis Trichardt, and at an industrial site, Amersfoort, from July 1986 to June 1999. The chemical composition of precipitation was analysed for seven inorganic and two organic ions, using ion chromatography. The most abundant ion was SO4 2 − and a large proportion of theprecipitation is acidic, with 98% of samples at Amersfoort and 94% at LouisTrichardt having a pH below 5.6 (average pH of 4.4 and 4.9, respectively). This acidity results from a mixture of mineral and organic acids, with mineral acids being the primary contributors to the precipitation acidity in Amersfoort, while at Louis Trichardt, organic and mineral acids contribute equal amounts of acidity. It was found that the composition of rainwater is controlled by five sources: marine, terrigenous, nitrogenous, biomass burning and anthropogenic sources. The relative contributions of these sources at the two sites were calculated. Anthropogenic sources dominate at Amersfoort and biomass burning at Louis Trichardt. Most ions exhibit a seasonal pattern at Louis Trichardt, with the highest concentrations occurring during the austral spring as a result of agricultural activities and biomass combustion, while at Amersfoort it is less pronounced due to the dominance of relatively constant industrial emissions. The results are compared to observations from other African regions

Precipitation chemistry and wet deposition in Kruger National Park, South Africa

The chemical composition, as well as the sources contributing to rainwater chemistry have been determined at Skukuza, in the Kruger National Park, South Africa. Major inorganic and organic ions were determined in 93 rainwater samples collected using an automated wet-only sampler from July 1999 to June 2002. The results indicate that the rain is acidic and the averaged precipitation pH was 4.72. This acidity results from a mixture of mineral acids (82%, of which 50% is H2SO4) and organic acids (18%). Most of the H2SO4 component can be attributed to the emissions of sulphur dioxide from the industrial region on the Highveld. The wet deposition of S and N is 5.9 kgS.ha(-1).yr(-1) and 2.8 kgN.ha(-1).yr(-1), respectively. The N deposition was mainly in the form of NH4+. Terrigenous, sea salt component, nitrogenous and anthropogenic pollutants have been identified as potential sources of chemical components in rainwater. The results are compared to observations from other African regions

Dry and wet atmospheric nitrogen deposition in Africa.

(24-29 avril 2005)

Dry and Wet atmospheric nitrogen deposition in Africa

This work is part of the IDAF* (IGAC/DEBITS/AFrica) programme which started in 1995 with the establishment of 10 measurement sites representative of major African ecosystems. The objectives of the programme are to study dry and wet deposition of important trace species and more generally the biogeochemical cycles of key nutrients. In this way, the IDAF activity is based on high quality measurements of atmospheric chemical data (gaseous, precipitation and aerosols chemical composition) on the basis of a multi-year monitoring. In this paper, our objective is to present the first estimation of the atmospheric nitrogen deposition budget in Africa based on experimental measurements. To estimate atmospheric nitrogen deposition, including both wet and dry processes, we compiled the IDAF nitrogen data (rain, particles and gases) obtained from the network for three consecutive years: 1998, 1999 and 2000. In western and central Africa, we studied a transect going from dry savanna (Niger and Mali) to humid savanna (Ivory Coast and Central Republic of Africa) and forest (Congo and Cameroon). In South Africa, two IDAF very different sites were chosen to be representative on one hand of a rural (semi-arid savanna) and on the other hand of an industrialized site. Presenting the different components of the nitrogen atmospheric deposition on these sites, i.e, dry deposition in gaseous (NO2, NH3, HNO3) and particulate forms (pNH4+, pNO3-) associated with wet deposition (NH4+, NO3-), this study allows us to give the relative contribution of dry and wet deposition processes to the total nitrogen deposition. The nitrogen atmospheric deposition presented for all the IDAF sites of the african continent range from 8 to 19 kgN.ha-1.yr-1. Sites from dry savanna in South Africa and West Africa have similar values (around 8-9 kgN.ha-1.yr-1 ) which are found in the lower part of the range. Wet zones from savanna and forests give values in the upper range (15 to 19 kgN.ha-1.yr-1). The Amersfoort site, representative of an anthropogenically modified savanna gives values also in the upper range (15 kgN.ha-1.yr-1). Moreover, this study indicates that dry deposition in all the ecosystems dominates and represents about 60-70 percent of the total nitrogen atmospheric deposition (except Amersfoort). These new datasets have led to estimate for the first time the nitrogen budget over the African continent. It is worth noting that the estimated range is similar to modelled ones (Galloway and Cowling, 2002; Rodhe et al, 2002). *IGAC/DEBITS/Africa: International Global Atmospheric Chemistry/ DEposition of Biogeochemically Important Trace Species/Afric