A model of annual orographic precipitation and acid deposition and its application to Snowdonia

Abstract

A model of orographic rainfall has been used to estimate annual precipitation and acid wet deposition at a 1 km resolution for the Snowdonia mountains in North Wales. Comparison with measurements and existing rainfall maps of the UK showed that this approach was successful in reproducing the high annual precipitation peaks of up to 4000 mm annually that occur in this area. At 13 out of the 17 measurement sites, the modelled annual precipitation differed from long-term annual average measurements by no more than 25%. The process model was compared with a procedure used to map wet deposition of pollutants across the United Kingdom at a 5 km resolution. Significant differences between the two deposition data sets were apparent. With the mapping procedure, maximum wet deposition was correlated to areas of high precipitation in the northeast of the domain. With the process model, however, maximum deposition was observed over the smaller hills in the southwest of the domain, the first orographic barrier reached by the air mass in south-westerly flow. High exceedances of critical loads for acidic deposition to soils were calculated using the mapping procedure and found to be due to the high annual precipitation in Snowdonia. The seeder–feeder model represents a useful tool, which could be used for estimating annual wet deposition of pollutants and exceedance of critical loads in hill areas at a much finer resolution than the national transport models and deposition mapping routines that are commonly employed in the United Kingdom.