Nitric oxide forests

Nitric oxide (NO) Forest fires anaerobic Combustion of oil, gas and... 

Keller, M., and W. A. Reiners. 1994. "Soil-atmosphere exchange of nitrous oxide, nitric oxide, and methane under secondary succession of pasture to forest in the Atlantic lowlands of Costa Rica." Global Biogeochemical Cycles 8 399-409. 

Forest fire—an undesirable exothermic reaction. The models show some simple combustion products carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, water, and nitric oxide. The last compound represents nitrogen-containing compounds. 

This group of nitrogen-o gen compounds includes the gases nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, and nitrous oxide. Natural sources of nitrogen oxides are forest fires, lightning. 

Accurately estimating the total amount of acid deposited on a receptor, such as a lake, or a forest, is problematic because acids are deposited by difficult-to-quantify dry processes as well as wet processes. The wet deposition of both sulfuric and nitric acids is believed to account for only about half of the total deposition of these acids on surface waters, soils, and vegetation. Data from whole watershed mass balance studies (e.g., Table 4-13) support the hypothesis that total deposition of sulfate considerably exceeds what is measured in the form of wet deposition alone. A significant amount of H2S04 is deposited as sulfate aerosols, such as ammonium sulfate ](NH4)2S04]. The direct absorption of S03, followed by oxidation of S03 to H2S04 at the absorbing surface, is another deposition mechanism. Dry deposition of nitric acid includes sorption of nitric acid vapor onto surfaces, as well as deposition... 

The presence of SO2 in the atmosphere and the sulfuric acid that it produces result in the phenomenon of acid rain. (Nitrogen oxides, which form nitric acid, are also major contributors to acid rain.) Uncontaminated rainwater is naturally acidic and generally has a pH value of about 5.6. The primary source of this natural acidity is CO2, which reacts with water to form carbonic acid, H2CO3. Add rain, however, is more addic than normal rainwater and typically has a pH value of about 4. This addity has affected many lakes in northern Europe, northern United States, and Canada, reducing fish populations and affecting other parts of the ecological network within flie lakes and surrounding forests. 

Contrary to popular belief, acid rain is not a new phenomenon nor does it result solely from industrial pollution. Natural processes—volcanic eruptions and forest fires, for example—produce and release acid particles into the air, and the burning of foresf areas to clear land in Brazil, Africa, and other countries also contributes to acid rain however, the rise in manufacturing that began with the Industrial Revolution literally dwarfs all other contributions to the problem. The main culprits are emissions of sulfur dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels, such as oil and coal, and nitrogen oxide, formed mostly from internal combustion engine emissions, which is readily transformed into nitrogen dioxide. These mix in the atmosphere to form sulfuric acid and nitric acid. 

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