How damaging is acid rain? Current opinions differ widely, in part because for every proposed link between acid rain and adverse environmental effects an alternative explanation based on other phenomena can be or has been proposed, and in many cases cannot be readily dismissed. The specific areas addressed in this volume include the emissions of sulfur and nitrogen oxides, precipitation chemistry, atmospheric sulfates and visibility, surface water chemistry, sediment chemistry and abundance of diatom taxa, fish populations, and forest productivity. The book then draws conclusions about the acid deposition-phenomenon relationship, identifying phenomena which are directly acid deposition-caused and suggesting others apparently caused by human activities unrelated to acid deposition. Table of ContentsFront Matter1. Summary and Synthesis2. Emissions of Sulfur Dioxide and Nitrogen Oxides and Trends for Eastern North America3. Uncertainties in Trends in Acid Deposition: The Role of Climatic Fluctuations4. Patterns and Trends in Data for Atmospheric Sulfates and Visibility5. Precipitation Chemistry6. The Nature and Timing of the Deterioration of Red Spruce in the Northern Appalachian Mountains7. Streams and Lakes8. Fish Population Trends in Response to Surface Water Acidification9. Paleolimnological Evidence of Trends in Atmospheric Deposition of Acids and MetalsAppendix A: Method for Sampling and Analysis of Red Spuce DataAppendix B: Input Sulfate Fluxes to Lakes from Wet-Only Deposition and Output Sulfate FluxesAppendix C: Characteristics of Bench-Mark StreamsAppendix D: Historical Correction Factors for Alkalinity and Acid Status of Surface WatersAppendix E: Physical and Chemical Characteristics of Some Lakes in North America for Which Sediment-Diatom Data Exist

 

 

There are 520 pages in this book. This book was published in 1986 by National Academies Press .