Site and season-specific variations of the atmospheric pollutant transport and deposition on the local and regional scale

Abstract

In order to assess and evaluate the environmental impacts of an expanded use of coal in the Federal Republic of Germany site and season-specific variations of the atmospheric pollutant transport and deposition were investigated on a local and regional scale. The important meteorological parameters for 8 selected sites were compared and area mean values of the long-term dry and wet deposition factors for aerosols were calculated. While there were no distinct differences in the area mean values around sources of a height of 200 m in the northern German lowlands, higher differences were found in the southern part of the country varying mainly between 116 and 160 %, and sometimes even between 116 and 218 % with respect to the northern German site on the coast. Calculations of the total amount of pollutants deposited between 44°–62°N, 10°W – 20°E demonstrated regional differences due to the long-range transport and deposition of pollutants emitted at 2 German sites in the northern and southern part of the country, respectively. Season-specific variations of the pollutant transport and deposition were investigated for one selected site in southern Germany. On the local and regional scale values of the deposition factors were highest during the summer period, especially for wet deposition, while the ratio of loss by wet deposition to loss by dry deposition is higher in winter than in summer time.