| Summary: | During 1997-1999, in the territory of European Russia, several series of measurements of trichlo-roacetic acid (TCA) in vegetation and of minor gases in the atmosphere were performed. The latter determine the oxidizing ability of the atmosphere. It was assumed that anthropogenic emissions of chlorinated C2 hydro-carbons in central Europe and Russia may lead to the formation of toxic TCA, which, in climatically unfavor-able regions, may cause the destruction of vegetation. A large number of pine needle samples were collected. An analysis of these samples allowed the detection of several localities characterized by a significant content of TCA in vegetation. Observations of the variability of the contents of minor gaseous impurities in surface air allowed us to assume TCA generation over these areas and to make some assumptions on the sources of TCA precursors. Numerical simulation of oxidation processes and of the rates of TCA generation made it possible to explain the characteristic features of the processes occurring over such regions as Kalmykiya, central Russia, and the Kola Peninsula, which are strongly affected by anthropogenic pollution.
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