Acid episodes in the Allt a’Mharcaidh, Scotland: an investigation

Stream waters in the Allt a’Mharcaidh catchment (Cairngorms, Scotland) have been monitored for flow, conductivity and pH at sub-hourly resolution; and for a range of chemical, biological and physical parameters, less intensively, since the mid-1980s. The Allt a’Mharcaidh stream is subject to acidic...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Muriel C. Bonjean, Michael Hutchins, Colin Neal
Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
Format: Text
Language:English
Subjects:
acidic episodes
stream
sub-hourly monitoring
sea-salt conductivity
Antecedent Runoff Index
North Atlantic Oscillation
UKAWMN
Mharcaidh
North Atlantic
North Atlantic oscillation
Online Access:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.371.7186
http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/30/56/19/PDF/hess-11-340-2007.pdf
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Summary:Stream waters in the Allt a’Mharcaidh catchment (Cairngorms, Scotland) have been monitored for flow, conductivity and pH at sub-hourly resolution; and for a range of chemical, biological and physical parameters, less intensively, since the mid-1980s. The Allt a’Mharcaidh stream is subject to acidic events (pH<5.5) triggered by both hydrology and sea-salt inputs from the atmosphere. This paper investigates the drivers of these acidic events using variables derived from sub-hourly monitored data. It also examines the influence of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) on episode severity. Sub-hourly datasets are used to derive multiple regression models expressing stream H + concentration as a function of the sea-salt conductivity and the peak instantaneous flow rate amongst other explanatory variables. The relationship between sea-salt conductivity and the NAO is significant but hidden due to issues such as time lags and the influence of atmospheric patterns other than the NAO.

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