Acid rain monitoring in Asia

Of all the Asian countries, Japan has the longest tradition of environmental research and environmental awareness. Studies of rain water composition were reported as long ago as 1894 (Kellner et al, 1894). Annnal mean rainwater pH values were reported to be 4.1 in Tokyo, 5.2 in Kobe and 5.6 in Hamamatsu in the period 1936-1937 

Region High emission High deposition Ecological 

Siberia is the vast region situated between the Ural Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. There are different large local sources of pollution inside this area such as nonferrous metal smelters, oil and gas wells, oil chemistry plants and electric power stations 

After Japan, the most extensive chemistry data set in the Asian region is for China. The Institute of Environmental Chemistry initiated a survey of precipitation chemistry in some cities in the late 1970s, and nationwide surveys have been reported since 1982. The results of these studies show that acid rain occurs in many parts of China, especially in the southwest (Zhao and Sun, 1986 Galloway et al, 1987 Zhao and Xiong, 1988, Naritaetal, 1997). 

The main cause of acid rain in China is the industrial and domestic combustion of coal. Many of the furnaces have short chimney stacks and have minimal controls. The content of sulfur varies between different regions. In Beijing, the sulfur content of coal is circa 1 %, whereas in Guizhou province in the south it is between 3 and 5%. 

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