Measurement and interpretation of acidity in Southern California rainfall and aerosols

Abstract

The semiarid climate of southern California and relatively high air pollutant concentrations during the dry season lead to a higher dry flux than wet flux of acidity. Additional research is needed to measure the dry flux as well as ambient ammonia concentrations. The relative importances of the dry flux, wet flux and advection for the Los Angeles Basin are summaried in Table 8.1. The wet flux is about an order of magnitude less than the total dry flux, although it is greater than the dry flux due to aerosol deposition. Of the acids and bases released in the basin, more than half are exported out of the basin by advection.