Sulphate and nitrate concentrations in snow from South Greenland 1895–1978
An understanding of the phenomenon of acid rain requires the identification of the sources of the species affecting the pH of rainwater, both natural and anthropogenic, and their temporal and spatial development. The scant data concerning the historical development of the acidity in precipitation ar...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/314611a0 |
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ftzenodo:oai:zenodo.org:1233023 2024-09-15T18:04:08+00:00 Sulphate and nitrate concentrations in snow from South Greenland 1895–1978 Neftel, A. Beer, J. Oeschger, H. Zürcher, F. Finkel, R. C. 1985-04-18 https://doi.org/10.1038/314611a0 unknown Zenodo https://doi.org/10.1038/314611a0 oai:zenodo.org:1233023 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode info:eu-repo/semantics/article 1985 ftzenodo https://doi.org/10.1038/314611a0 2024-07-27T07:39:59Z An understanding of the phenomenon of acid rain requires the identification of the sources of the species affecting the pH of rainwater, both natural and anthropogenic, and their temporal and spatial development. The scant data concerning the historical development of the acidity in precipitation are from urban regions or their vicinity, where local effects dominate and obscure the hemispherical pattern1. The Greenland ice sheet allows us to trace the evolution of the acid rain in a remote location that is free from local effects. Sulphuric and nitric acids are the two species that dominate the acidity in precipitation2–4. We report here measurements of [SO42−] and [NO3−] in firn samples spanning the period 1895–1978. Samples, each covering 1 yr, were taken from a 70-m core drilled at Dye 3, South Greenland; [NO3−] and [SO42−] both increased by a factor of ˜2 during the period. By comparing the recent concentrations of nitrate and sulphate with those resulting from natural sources, we conclude that anthropogenic emissions of the precursors (NOx, SO2) had already surpassed natural sources in the late 1950s. Article in Journal/Newspaper Dye 3 Dye-3 Greenland Ice Sheet Zenodo Nature 314 6012 611 613 |
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ftzenodo |
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description |
An understanding of the phenomenon of acid rain requires the identification of the sources of the species affecting the pH of rainwater, both natural and anthropogenic, and their temporal and spatial development. The scant data concerning the historical development of the acidity in precipitation are from urban regions or their vicinity, where local effects dominate and obscure the hemispherical pattern1. The Greenland ice sheet allows us to trace the evolution of the acid rain in a remote location that is free from local effects. Sulphuric and nitric acids are the two species that dominate the acidity in precipitation2–4. We report here measurements of [SO42−] and [NO3−] in firn samples spanning the period 1895–1978. Samples, each covering 1 yr, were taken from a 70-m core drilled at Dye 3, South Greenland; [NO3−] and [SO42−] both increased by a factor of ˜2 during the period. By comparing the recent concentrations of nitrate and sulphate with those resulting from natural sources, we conclude that anthropogenic emissions of the precursors (NOx, SO2) had already surpassed natural sources in the late 1950s. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Neftel, A. Beer, J. Oeschger, H. Zürcher, F. Finkel, R. C. |
spellingShingle |
Neftel, A. Beer, J. Oeschger, H. Zürcher, F. Finkel, R. C. Sulphate and nitrate concentrations in snow from South Greenland 1895–1978 |
author_facet |
Neftel, A. Beer, J. Oeschger, H. Zürcher, F. Finkel, R. C. |
author_sort |
Neftel, A. |
title |
Sulphate and nitrate concentrations in snow from South Greenland 1895–1978 |
title_short |
Sulphate and nitrate concentrations in snow from South Greenland 1895–1978 |
title_full |
Sulphate and nitrate concentrations in snow from South Greenland 1895–1978 |
title_fullStr |
Sulphate and nitrate concentrations in snow from South Greenland 1895–1978 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Sulphate and nitrate concentrations in snow from South Greenland 1895–1978 |
title_sort |
sulphate and nitrate concentrations in snow from south greenland 1895–1978 |
publisher |
Zenodo |
publishDate |
1985 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1038/314611a0 |
genre |
Dye 3 Dye-3 Greenland Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Dye 3 Dye-3 Greenland Ice Sheet |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1038/314611a0 oai:zenodo.org:1233023 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/314611a0 |
container_title |
Nature |
container_volume |
314 |
container_issue |
6012 |
container_start_page |
611 |
op_container_end_page |
613 |
_version_ |
1810441623633395712 |