The interception and retention of aerosols by vegetation—I. The formulation of a filtration model

Abstract

A filtration model is developed and presented to explain quantitatively the interception and retention of an aerosol by vegetation, without explicitly accounting for the vegetation's micro-environment. The model appreciably extends an earlier filtration model proposed by Chamberlain to describe interception only. A feature of the model is the non-exponential character of the time-dependent retention. High quality fits to the data of four independent experiments, each employing an aqueous spray over grassland, are obtained, yielding consistent values for the three undetermined parameters of the model.