Acid Deposition : Long-Term Trends

How damaging is acid rain? Current opinions differ widely, in part because for every proposed link between acid rain and adverse environmental effects an alternative explanation based on other phenomena can be or has been proposed, and in many cases cannot be readily dismissed.

The specific areas addressed in this volume include the emissions of sulfur and nitrogen oxides, precipitation chemistry, atmospheric sulfates and visibility, surface water chemistry, sediment chemistry and abundance of diatom taxa, fish populations, and forest productivity.

The book then draws conclusions about the acid deposition-phenomenon relationship, identifying phenomena which are directly acid deposition-caused and suggesting others apparently caused by human activities unrelated to acid deposition. Table of ContentsFront Matter1. Summary and Synthesis2. Emissions of Sulfur Dioxide and Nitrogen Oxides and Trends forEastern North America3.

Uncertainties in Trends in Acid Deposition: The Role of ClimaticFluctuations4.

Patterns and Trends in Data for Atmospheric Sulfates andVisibility5.

Precipitation Chemistry6. The Nature and Timing of the Deterioration of Red Spruce in theNorthern Appalachian Mountains7.

Streams and Lakes8. Fish Population Trends in Response to Surface WaterAcidification9.

Paleolimnological Evidence of Trends in Atmospheric Depositionof Acids and MetalsAppendix A: Method for Sampling and Analysis of Red Spuce DataAppendix B: Input Sulfate Fluxes to Lakes from Wet-Only Depositionand Output Sulfate FluxesAppendix C: Characteristics of Bench-Mark StreamsAppendix D: Historical Correction Factors for Alkalinity and AcidStatus of Surface WatersAppendix E: Physical and Chemical Characteristics of Some Lakes inNorth America for Which Sediment-Diatom Data Exist