Western Atlantic precipitation

Cutter, GA. and Church, T.M. (1986) Selenium in Western Atlantic precipitation. Nature, 322, 720-722. 

Cutter and Church (13) have determined selenium species in western Atlantic precipitation so that the emission sources using this sulfur analogue, which is enriched in fossil fuels (primarily coal), can be more exactly identified. The results show a correlation of both total Se and the Se IV Se VI ratio with increasing protons and excess sulfur in precipitation from Lewes, Delaware, and on Bermuda. Their hypothesis is that, although some reduced forms (1 nM/kg) may come from background oceanic emissions, most oxidized Se is a reflection of fossil-fuel emissions from North America. 

Cutter GA and Church TM (1986) Sdenium in Western Atlantic precipitation. Nature 322 720— 722. 

Impact of North American Emissions on Wet Deposition to the Western Atlantic Ocean. Wet deposition has been collected by event during WATOX at two sites on Bermuda, one site near Lewes, Delaware, and on board ships. These wet-deposition samples have been analyzed for acidic species, metals, and organic compounds. This section discusses our interpretation of the marine precipitation-chemistry data and the results of our analyses as well as the influence of North American emissions on precipitation composition. 

Church et al. (8), in presenting additional information derived from WATOX research, report on the ocean s influence on precipitation from storms that leave the North American continent and transit over the western Atlantic. They pay particular attention to this oceanic influence on the sulfur and nitrogen precursors of acid rains. They further report that, although sea salt contributes over half (by weight) of the salt in precipitation at the coast and over three quarters of the salt in precipitation at Bermuda, most sulfate (90% at the coast and 50% at Bermuda) is in excess of sea salt. 

Using techniques developed for the sampling and analyses of trace metals in marine precipitation by Tramantano, Scudlark, and Church (Environ. Sci. Technol.. in press), Church et al. (11) and Jickells et al. (12) have also reported on concentration measurements of the trace metals Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, V, and Zn in wet deposition at Lewes, Delaware, and on Bermuda. The purpose of this facet of the WATOX research was to assess the sources of, the transport to, and the wet deposition of trace metals to the western Atlantic Ocean during nonsummer months. At this time of the year, trace metals are likely to be transported by a westerly air-mass flow from North America to the open Atlantic. Church and his colleagues report that the concentrations and wet deposition of trace... 

The Impact of North American Emissions on the Composition of the Atmosphere over the Western Atlantic Ocean. As part of WATOX-82 (August 1982) and WATOX-83 (January and February 1983), General Motors Research Laboratories operated air-monitoring sites on the Atlantic coast near Lewes, Delaware, and on the southwest coast of Bermuda, 1250 km to the southeast of the Delaware site. Their overall purpose was to study the transformations of the principal acid-precipitation precursors, NOx and SOx species, as they were transported under conditions not complicated by emissions from local sources. Three papers have resulted from this study (16. 17. 18). 

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