Deposition, dry

Dry deposition refers to any physical removal process that does not involve precipitation. Three dry deposition mechanisms are discussed next gravitational settling, impaction, and absorption. 

Dynamic viscosity also is called the coefficient of viscosity. Note that dynamic viscosity divided by density gives the kinematic viscosity which is used in Eq. [2-20]. For most gases, the dynamic viscosity increases with increasing temperature. At 18°C, the dynamic viscosity of air is 1.83 X 10 4 g/(cm sec), or poise. If particle radius is expressed in micrometers, values for g and pij are substituted, and Ap is set to 1 g/cm3, Stokes law reduces to a convenient rule of thumb for air  

Note that there is no consistency of dimensions or units in this equation as written the user must remember the proper units. 

For rapidly settling particles between approximately 10 and 100 jum in radius, Stokes law often is applied to correct the predictions of Gaussian plume models for settling the plume centerline is assumed to tilt downward from the horizontal at an angle whose value is given by the arc tangent of the settling velocity divided by the wind speed. 

For particles having densities of approximately 1 g/cm3 and radii less than 1 /rm, gravitational settling often may be neglected, because it is usually slower than other removal processes the Stokes settling velocity for such particles is on the order of 10 m/day or less. Although such small particles 

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An aerosol is a suspension of either a solid or a liquid in a gas. Fog, for example, is a suspension of small liquid water droplets in air, and smoke is a suspension of small solid particulates in combustion gases. In both cases the liquid or solid particulates must be small enough to remain suspended in the gas for an extended time. Solid aerosol particulates, which are the focus of this problem, usually have micrometer or submicrometer diameters. Over time, solid particulates settle out from the gas, falling to the Earth s surface as dry deposition. 

Existing methods for monitoring the transport of gases were inadequate for studying aerosols. To solve the problem, qualitative and quantitative information were needed to determine the sources of pollutants and their net contribution to the total dry deposition at a given location. Eventually the methods developed in this study could be used to evaluate models that estimate the contributions of point sources of pollution to the level of pollution at designated locations. 

Acid Deposition. Acid deposition, the deposition of acids from the atmosphere to the surface of the earth, can be dry or wet. Dry deposition involves acid gases or their precursors or acid particles coming in contact with the earth s surface and thence being retained. The principal species associated with dry acid deposition are S02(g), acid sulfate particles, ie, H2SO4 and NH HSO, and HN02(g). Measurements of dry deposition are quite sparse, however, and usually only speciated as total and total NO3. In general, dry acid deposition is estimated to be a small fraction of the total... 

Pesticides can be transported away from the site of appHcation either in the atmosphere or in water. The process of volatili2ation that transfers the pesticide from the site of appHcation to the atmosphere has been discussed in detail (46). The off-site transport and deposition can be at scales ranging from local to global. Once the pesticide is in the atmosphere, it is subject to chemical and photochemical processes, wet deposition in rain or fog, and dry deposition. 

Deposition. The products of the various chemical and physical reactions in the atmosphere are eventually returned to the earth s surface. Usually, a useful distinction is made here between wet and dry deposition. Wet deposition, ie, rainout and washout, includes the flux of all those components that are carried to the earth s surface by rain or snow, that is, those dissolved and particulate substances contained in rain or snow. Dry deposition is the flux of particles and gases, especially SO2, FINO, and NFl, to the receptor surface during the absence of rain or snow. Deposition can also occur through fog, aerosols and droplets which can be deposited on trees, plants, or the ground. With forests, approximately half of the deposition of SO(, NH+,andH+ occurs as dry deposition. 

Removal Processes. Pollutant removal processes, particularly dry deposition and scavenging by rain and clouds, are a primary factor in determining the dynamics and ultimate fate of pollutants in the atmosphere. 

Dry Deposition. Dry deposition occurs in two steps the transport of pollutants to the earth s surface, and the physical and chemical interaction between the surface and the pollutant. The first is a fluid mechanical process (see Fluid mechanics), the second is primarily a chemical process, and neither is completely characterized at the present time. The problem is confounded by the interaction between the pollutants and biogenic surfaces where pollutant uptake is enhanced or retarded by plant activity that varies with time (47,48). It is very difficult to measure the depositional flux of pollutants from the atmosphere, though significant advances were made during the 1980s and early 1990s (49,50). 

Many factors affect dry deposition, but for computational convenience air quaUty models resort to using a single quantity called the deposition velocity, designated or to prescribe the deposition rate. The deposition velocity is defined such that the flux T of species i to the ground is... 

Any minor temporary emissions treated in definition of net dry deposition. 

Acid deposition refers to the transport of acid constituents from the atmosphere to the earth s surface. This process includes dry deposition of SO2, NO2, HNO3, and particulate sulfate matter and wet deposition ("acid rain") to surfaces. This process is widespread and alters distribution of plant and aquatic species, soil composition, pH of water, and nutrient content, depending on the circumstances. 

Paints and coatings for automobiles have not been immune to damage by air polluhon. Wolff and co-workers (13) found that damage to automobile finishes was the result of scarring by calcium sulfate crystals formed when sulfuric acid in rain or dew reacted with dry deposited calcium. 

Acid rain is the popular term for a very complex environmental problem. Over the past 25 years, evidence has accumulated on changes in aquatic life and soil pH in Scandinavia, Canada, and the northeastern United States. Many believe that these changes are caused by acidic deposition traceable to pollutant acid precursors that result from the burning of fossil fuels. Acid rain is only one component of acidic deposition, a more appropriate description of this phenomenon. Acidic deposition is the combined total of wet and dry deposition, with wet acidic deposition being commonly referred to as acid rain. 

Fig. 10-12. Atmospheric processes involved in acidic deposition, The two principal deposition pathways are dry deposition (nonrain events) and wet deposition (rain events).

The two components of acidic deposition described in Chapter 10 are wet deposition and dry deposition. The collection and subsequent analysis... 

Uniform mixing in the vertical to 1000 m and uniform concentrations across each puff as it expands with the square root of travel time are assumed. A 0.01 h transformation rate from SO2 to sulfate and 0.029 and 0.007 h" dry deposition rates for SO2 and sulfate, respectively, are used. Wet deposition is dependent on the rainfall rate determined from the surface obser% ation network every 6 h, with the rate assumed to be uniform over each 6-h period. Concentrations for each cell are determined by averaging the concentrations of each time step for the cell, and deposition is determined by totaling all depositions over the period. 

The EURMAP model has been useful in estimating the contribution to the concentrations and deposition on eveiy European nation from every other European nation. Contributions of a nation to itself range as foUows SO2 wet deposition, 25-91% SO2 dry deposition, 31-91% sulfate wet deposition, 2-46% sulfate dry deposition, 4-57%. 

Sulfur oxides (SO,) are compounds of sulfur and oxygen molecules. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is the predominant form found in the lower atmosphere. It is a colorless gas that can be detected by taste and smell in the range of 1, (X)0 to 3,000 uglm. At concentrations of 10,000 uglm , it has a pungent, unpleasant odor. Sulfur dioxide dissolves readily in water present in the atmosphere to form sulfurous acid (H SOj). About 30% of the sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere is converted to sulfate aerosol (acid aerosol), which is removed through wet or dry deposition processes. Sulfur trioxide (SO3), another oxide of sulfur, is either emitted directly into the atmosphere or produced from sulfur dioxide and is readily converted to sulfuric acid (H2SO4). 

Dry Deposition delivery of air pollutants in the gaseous or particle phase to surfaces. 

Radioactivity decays exponentially according to the half-life and time. All effluents can undergo dry deposition by sorption onto the ground surface. 

However, the dry deposition rate for noble gases, tritium, carbon-14, and nonelemental radioiodine is so slow that this depletion mechanism is negligible within 50 miles of the release point. Elemental o radioiodine and other particulates are readily deposited. This transfer can be quantified as a transfer velocity (where concentration transfer velocity = deposition rate). The transfer velocity is proportional to windspeed and, as a consequence, the rate of depositirm is independent of windspeed since concentration in air is inversely proportional to windspeed. 

Dry deposition, although not as efficient as the wet removal process, is continuous while wet deposition occurs only during... 

Ground radiation is from deposited radioactive particles. The deposition rate from a radioactive cloud without rain (dry deposition) is so low that the ground radiation dose is about the same as the inhalation dose. A heavy rain, however, may wash out enough particles from the plume to make ground radiation the dominant contributor to the total dose in a limited area. Rain will also attenuate radiation by leaching the radioactivity to be shielded by the soil and by moving it to streams for further removal. 

NUCRAC improves on the health effects model by a reexamination of Hiroshima and Nagasaki data. The dry deposition model was much improved by the inclusion of a particle-si/e distribution, a detailed settling model, and a detailed chronic exposure model via the food pathway. However, it does not include a rainout model. 

It is clear that both atmospheric and surface dusts are complex materials and not all that easy to describe. A summary is given in Fig. 2 of the sources of atmospheric and surface dusts and their inter-connection. Both natural and anthropogenic sources contribute to both dusts. The inter-connection between the two dusts is wet and dry deposition from the atmosphere to the ground, and the re-entrainment of surface dust through wind and human activity into the atmosphere. Dust is an important global component of our earth, and impinges on the wellbeing of people. 

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