Temporal and Elevation-Related Variability in Precipitation Chemistry from 1993 to 2002, Eastern Erzgebirge, Germany

Abstract

The Erzgebirge, part of the so-called former "Black Triangle", used to represent the strongest regional air pollution of Central Europe. To test the hypothesis of deposition enhancement with height, an altitudinal gradient along a N-S transect from the Elbe river lowlands to the Erzgebirge summit was chosen to investigate chemical composition, elevation-related variability, temporal changes, and seasonal patterns of ion concentrations from 1993 to 2002. The following questions were to be answered: (1) Which role does orography play on the composition of precipitation?, (2) Does fog occurrence overrule the orographic influence?, (3) Are there changes in the past 10 years, and if so, why?, (4) Do relevant seasonal changes occur and why?Air streams from westerly and to a lesser degree south-easterly directions prevail. The average precipitation was ion-poor (23 μS cm −1 ) and acidic (pH 4.5). Sulphate still was the dominant anion (52.3-59.9 μeq L −1 ), while NH + 4 determined the cations (41.9-62.2 μeq L −1 ). Ion concentrations decreased with altitude to about 735 m a.s.l. and subsequently increased. The seeder-feeder effect largely explains the chemical composition of precipitation; enhanced in winter through snow crystals. Sub-cloud scavenging does not explain the observed patterns. Fog occurrence enhanced the observed effects at higher altitudes. Deposition amounts doubled from the lowlands to the Erzgebirge summit. From 1993 to 2002, acidity decreased by about 50%, mainly due to reduced SO 2 -emissions.

Recent Atmospheric Deposition and its Effects on Sandstone Cliffs in Bohemian Switzerland National Park, Czech Republic

“…3). Previous reports on chemical composition of bulk precipitation from the Black Triangle listed SO 4 2− as the most abundant anion (Zimmermann et al 2006 , assuming that all Na + is of marine origin, similar to previous studies (Zimmermann et al 2006). Mean molar ratio of Na + /Cl − concentration in all bulk precipitation samples was 0.92 close to the seawater value of 0.86.…”

Application of Chemometric Analysis to the Study of Snow at the Sudety Mountains, Poland

“…It has become instantly obvious that there are 4 patterns of objects formed for S site: (1-6); (7, 10-12, 15, 16) (8,9,18) and (13,14,17). In the first cluster only samples from phase II (stabilization) are included; in the second and the third groups include dominant cases from phase III (re-growth) and the samples from phase IV (ablation) are included in clusters 2, 3, and 4 (Fig.…”

Linking biological and physicochemical water quality

“…The geological setting and the related mining history of the region explain higher background levels for many trace metals, such as Ag, As, Cd, Pb, U, and Zn (Matschullat et al 1994;Pälchen and Greif 1998). Acidification effects in the upper reaches, strongly enhanced by severe air pollution in the 1970s and 1980s and based upon low primary buffering capacity of soil and bedrock material, as well as spruce forest monocultures, have decreased over the last years (Matschullat et al 2000;Ulrich et al 2006;Zimmermann et al 2006). …”

“…4). This reversal is attributed to the intense reduction of industrial SO 2 and NO x emissions, which declined by 99% and 82% in the GermanCzech border region between 1993 and 1999 (Ulrich et al 2006;Zimmermann et al 2006). The Rote, Wilde, and Vereinigte Weisseritz subcatchments show differentiated results with highest salinity in the Vereinigte Weisseritz and lowest in the Wilde Weisseritz.…”