Anthropogenic sulphur

Conversely, with accelerated economic development, the growth of sulphur emissions in many parts of Asia has been high in recent decades, although growth rates have moderated recently. Global anthropogenic sulphur emissions are estimated for the year 2000 at between 55 Mt S and 62 Mt S, a decline from around 75 Mt S in 1990 (IPCC, 2007c). 

Stable Isotopes Natural and Anthropogenic Sulphur in the Environment Krouse, H. R. Grinenko, V. A., Eds. Wiley Chichester, United Kingdom, 1991 p 440. 

The reason why SIA is higher in urban areas is less obvious as these are secondary aerosols. The observed increment is predominantly caused by more nitrate and sulphate. The reaction of nitric acid and sulphuric acid with the sea-salt aerosol in a marine urbanised environment follows an irreversible reaction scheme. In essence, the chloride depletion stabilises part of the nitrate and sulphate in the coarse mode and may partly explain part of the observed increment. However, it also raises the question how to assign the coarse mode nitrate in the mass closure. The sea salt and nitrate contributions cannot simply be added any more as nitrate replaces chloride. Reduction of NOx emissions may cause a reduction of coarse mode nitrate, which is partly compensated by the fact that chloride is not lost anymore. A reduction would yield a net result of ((N03-C1)/N03 = (62-35)/62=) 27/62 times the nitrate reduction (where the numbers are molar weights of the respective components), and this factor could be used to scale back the coarse nitrate fraction in the chemical mass balance. A similar reasoning may be valid for the anthropogenic sulphate in the coarse fraction. Corrections like these are uncommon in current mass closure studies, and consequences will have to be explored in more detail. 

Sanets E.Y. and Chuduk Y.N. (2005). Sulphur atmospheric deposition in areas with different anthropogenic loads in Belarus. Atmospheric Research, 77(1-4), 88-99. 

In order to assess the atmospheric significance of the biogenic emission of sulphur, we have chosen to relate the natural flux to the anthropogenic emissions of SO2 over Europe. During winter months the production of DMS in seawater is low and European SO2 emissions are maximal, therefore, the flux of DMS will be of little significance (2). We will, therefore describe and contrast emission rates for spring and summer. 

Volkov II (1991) Reduced sulphur species in the Black Sea water. In Vinogradov ME (ed) Variability of the Black Sea ecosystem natural and anthropogenic factors. Nauka, Moscow, p 53 (in Russian)... 

Since Febmary of 2006, the regional forecasting system of FMI covers three major types of sources (Fig. 15.1) anthropogenic emission of sulphur oxides and primary particulate matter PM 2.5 and PM 10, biological sources of birch pollen and... 

Sulphur oxides originated from anthropogenic and volcanic sources... 

There is also present in the stratosphere a particulate aerosol layer which can, at least temporarily, have an impact on the earth s radiation budget and climate. This layer is formed primarily through oxidation of sulphur-hearing precursor gases of tropospheric origin. Anthropogenic activities contribute to the upward flux of these gases. 

Holt B. D. and Kumar R. (1991) Oxygen isotope fractionation for understanding the sulphur cycle. In Stable Isotopes Natural and Anthropogenic Sulphur in the Environment, SCOPE 43 (Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment) (eds. H. R. Krouse and V. A. Grinenko). Wiley, pp. 27-41. 

Continental water contains dissolved species that render it acidic. The acidity comes from a variety of sources from the dissociation of atmospheric C02 in rainwater—and particularly from dissociation of soil-zone C02 (Section 4.4.2)— to form H2C(and natural and anthropogenic sulphur dioxide (S02) to form H2S03 and H2S04 (see Boxes 3.7 3.8). Reaction between a mineral and acidic weathering agents is usually called acid hydrolysis. The weathering of CaCO, demonstrates the chemical principle involved ... 

Comparison of the global sulphur cycle as it is thought to have been prior to any major anthropogenic influence (Fig. 7.17a) with the cycle as it was in the mid 1980s (Fig. 7.17b) reveals some interesting apparent changes in the sizes of some inter-reservoir fluxes. There are also, however, some fluxes for which there is little or no evidence of change, and these are discussed first. 

Fig. 7.18 The main natural and anthropogenic routes for atmospheric sulphur dioxide and sulphate.

Figure 8 presents pie diagrams of the averaged data on the mineral composition of the liquid extracts from the dry atmospheric fallouts sampled at Tashkent meteostation in the centre of the city, at Almalyk meteostation in the outskirts of the town and, for comparison, similar data from the meteostations Chatkal Nature Reservation and Abramov glacier . It is necessary to note that the composition of dry fallouts sampled in Chatkal with the northwestern wind direction (which prevails in that area) can be influenced by the transfer of sulphur dioxide and other components from Almalyk town which is the major source of anthropogenic pollution in Tashkent province. The possibility of such atmospheric transfer has also been confirmed by model calculations. 

In the last decades, anthropogenic sulfur and nitrogen emissions have been discussed in the context of acid rain (see Ulrich and Sumner, 1991 van Breemen ct al., 1983 Reuss and Johnson, 1986) and this point of view has influenced policy in Europe and North America (e.g., LRTAP UN-ECE Second Sulphur Protocol, Clean Air Act). 

Estimates of annual amounts of emissions released into the earth s atmosphere are remarkably different from each other, depending on the choice of balance models [5-24]. For the anthropogenic sources, the following substances may be listed in decreasing order of importance carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulphur oxides, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides and liquid and solid particles. A summary of relative contributions of these substances to total emissions of main types of anthropogenic sources is given in Table 5.8. 

Anthropogenic source. In this case, particularly sulphur dioxide enters the atmosphere. It falls back to the earth s surface, predominantly in the form of sulphates or H2SO4. It is estimated that about 1/3 of sulphates falling onto the earth s surface comes from human activity. 

Sulphur-containing petroleum components such as benzothiophene, DBT, and naphthobenzothiophene were obtained from seawater extracts (Warner, 1975) and were related to an oil spill. The detection of diphenyl sulphone and bis-(p-chlorphenyl) sulphone in ng amounts in the Mediterranean, as well as in oxic and anoxic Baltic waters, suggests anthropogenic input (Bouchertall, 1979) — the former compound is used as wood preserving agent and ovicide. 

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