Cloud water composition

The cloud chemistry simulation chamber (5,6) provides a controlled environment to simulate the ascent of a humid parcel of polluted air in the atmosphere. The cloud forms as the pressure and temperature of the moist air decreases. By controlling the physical conditions influencing cloud growth (i.e. initial temperature, relative humidity, cooling rate), and the size, composition, and concentration of suspended particles, chemical transformation rates of gases and particles to dissolved ions in the cloud water can be measured. These rates can be compared with those derived from physical/chemical models (7,9) which involve variables such as liquid water content, solute concentration, the gas/liquid interface, mass transfer, chemical equilibrium, temperature, and pressure. 

Direct evidence of metal dissolution is given by the analysis of rain composition [35]. Fe and Cu present in clouds originate in crustal and combustion aerosols. Their concentrations in rural air are in the ranges 0.1-100 and 0.001-0.1 pgnr3, respectively, while typical concentrations of 0.1-20 p,M for Fe and 0.001-0.3 p,M for Cu are found in cloud water [1],... 

This paper is a summary of our findings from a four-year study of the chemical composition of fog and cloud water in California. Fog water was sampled at a number of sites with a rotating arm collector, which was developed in our laboratory and collects representative samples. Field investigations in the Los Angeles basin, the San Gabriel Mountains, and the San Joaquin Valley revealed very high ionic... 

The section on measurement and monitoring concentrates on the scope of the acid deposition problem. This includes wet deposition chemistry, dry deposition, fog and cloud water, and the composition of dew. 

The composition of cloud and precipitation water was investigated by Petrenchuk and Drozdova (1966), among others they developed a special cloud water collector that worked at positive as well as at negative temperatures. Their results, obtained over the European parts of the U.S.S.R., are given in Table 28. It can be seen that over clean northern regions the difference between the sum of ions in cloud and precipitation elements is not great. In these areas the concentration of sulfate and nitrate ions is relatively small while the chloride content is great. This situation can be explained by maritime influences. In comparison, sulfate is the... 

More recently, Fricke et al. (1978) reported the results of a similar investigation. In this study, carried out over Bavaria, F.R.G., the composition of cloud water collected at the cloud base was compared with the composition of rainwater sampled at the surface. It was found that the concentration of heavy metals at cloud base was about twice the value at ground level in rainwater, in agreement with some of the results of Petrenchuk and Drozdova (1966). Fricke s study also indicated that the total sulfur content (sulfate + S02 + sulfite about 30 % of the total was S02 and sulfite) was doubled between the cloud base and the surface, probably due to S02 wash-out. 

The condensation of water vapor and its precipitation from the atmosphere in the form of rain, snow, sleet, or hail are important not only for the water cycle, but also because they bring to the earth surface other atmospheric constituents, primarily those substances that have a pronounced affinity toward water in the condensed state. Cloud and precipitation elements may incorporate both aerosol particles and gases. The uptake mechanisms are discussed in this chapter, together with the inorganic composition of cloud and rain water that they determine. These processes are, in principle, well understood. Another subject requiring discussion is the occurrence of chemical reactions in the liquid phase of clouds. The oxidation of S02 dissolved in cloud water is considered especially important. As a result of laboratory studies, the conversion of S02 to sulfate is now known to proceed by several reaction pathways in aqueous solution. 

The statistical collection and representation of the weather conditions for a specified area during a specified time interval, usually decades, together with a description of the state of the external system or boundary conditions. The properties that characterize the climate are thermal (temperatures of the surface air, water, land, and ice), kinetic (wind and ocean currents, together with associated vertical motions and the motions of air masses, aqueous humidity, cloudiness and cloud water content, groundwater, lake lands, and water content of snow on land and sea ice), nd static (pressure and density of the atmosphere and ocean, composition of the dry ir, salinity of the oceans, and the geometric boundaries and physical constants of the system). These properties are interconnected by the various physical processes such as precipitation, evaporation, infrared radiation, convection, advection, and turbulence, climate change... 

A water-soluble white crystalline sofld, CS is disseminated as a spray, as a cloud of dust or powder, or as an aerosol generated thermally from pyrotechnic compositions. The formulation designated CSl is CS mixed with an anti-agglomerant when dusted on the ground, it may remain active for as long as five days. CS2 formulated from CSl and a siUcone water repellent, may persist for as long as 45 days (6). 

In the mid-latitude region depicted in Fig. 7-5, the motion is characterized by large-scale eddy transport." Here the "eddies" are recognizable as ordinary high- and low-pressure weather systems, typically about 10 km in horizontal dimension. These eddies actually mix air from the polar regions with air from nearer the equator. At times, air parcels with different water content, different chemical composition and different thermodynamic characteristics are brought into contact. When cold dry air is mixed with warm moist air, clouds and precipitation occur. A frontal system is said to exist. Two such frontal systems are depicted in Fig. 7-5 (heavy lines in the midwest and southeast). 

Many different types of interaction can induce reversible phase transitions. For instance, weak flocculation has been observed in emulsions stabilized by nonionic surfactants by increasing the temperature. It is well known that many nonionic surfactants dissolved in water undergo aphase separation above a critical temperature, an initially homogeneous surfactant solution separates into two micellar phases of different composition. This demixtion is generally termed as cloud point transition. Identically, oil droplets covered by the same surfactants molecules become attractive within the same temperature range and undergo a reversible fluid-solid phase separation [9]. 

Any isotope fractionation occurring in such a way that the products are isolated from the reactants immediately after formation will show a characteristic trend in isotopic composition. As condensation or distiUation proceeds, the residual vapour or liquid will become progressively depleted or enriched with respect to the heavy isotope. A natural example is the fractionation between oxygen isotopes in the water vapour of a cloud and the raindrops released from the cloud. The resulting decrease of the iso/i o ratio in the residual vapour and the instantaneous isotopic composition of the raindrops released from the cloud are shown in Fig. 1.4 as a function of the fraction of vapour remaining in the cloud. 

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