Acid rain has ecological consequences in that it affects the soil, vegetation, especially forests, lakes (and hence fish). It causes economic damage to man-made structures (buildings, fabrics,Estimated Reading Time: 6 mins ABSTRACT Sulfur dioxide from natural and anthropogenic sources is oxidized in the atmosphere to form sulfuric acid aerosols. These aerosols contribute to acid rain, global climate variations, and are a health hazard to humans. Sulfuric acid aerosols in the stratosphere may also affect ozone levels Aug 18, · The Legacy of EPA’s Acid Rain Research. Published August 18, An EPA scientist testing the acidity of a stream (). In EPA’s 50 years of research, one of the most significant environmental challenges the nation faced was the problem of acid rain. Although evidence of acid rain’s harmful effects emerged centuries ago, it wasn’t until the early s that it was recognized as Estimated Reading Time: 7 mins
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JavaScript appears to be disabled on this computer. Please click here to see any active alerts. In taking part in the national effort to combat acid rain, EPA scientists helped usher in a new chapter of environmental science. Acid rain forms mainly through reactions with the chemicals sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide found in fossil fuel emissions. While normal rainwater is slightly acidic at a pH of 5. The effects reasearch on acid rain increasing acidity were widespread.
Acid rain negatively affects aquatic and terrestrial life, damages structures by corroding metal, paint and stone, and threatens public health.
On land, acid rain was stripping nutrients from soil and foliage that plants needed to grow. Acid rain also contributed to increased weathering of buildings, statues, and gravestones. InCongress directed EPA, reasearch on acid rain, along with five other federal agencies, four national laboratories, and partners from the private sector to form the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program NAPAP.
With increased funding to investigate acid rain, NAPAP scientists achieved a greater understanding of acid rain in just a few years. EPA scientists played a major role in several of the program's research areas, providing support for policies like the Acid Rain Program, which helped achieve major reductions in sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions.
These research efforts contributed advancements that reverberate through the scientific community to the present day. EPA ecologist Paul Ringold, Ph. One of the biggest impacts of reasearch on acid rain rain was its effects on surface water, especially in lakes in Northeastern U. and Canada, which exhibited higher sensitivity to acidifying chemicals. Ringold explained that in the past, many ecologists tended to study individual sites in-depth—so, while scientists understood the impact of acid rain on specific lakes, they needed to look at the population of lakes to understand the extent of the problem and to respond to key science questions.
Ringold said. InEPA began the National Surface Water Survey to investigate the effects of acid rain on America's lakes and streams. Instead of attempting the impossible feat of sampling every lake and stream, researchers used statistical sampling methods to narrow down which were most likely to be susceptible to acid rain. This approach to ecological research revolutionized the way EPA and similar federal programs developed datasets to monitor the environment, according to Dr.
The methods developed to answer questions about acid rain translated to other environmental questions, laying the groundwork for reasearch on acid rain monitoring programs like EPA's Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program EMAP and the National Aquatic Resource Surveys NARS, reasearch on acid rain.
Robin Dennis, reasearch on acid rain, Ph. Soon after he joined EPA in the mid-'80s, Dr. Dennis became involved in evaluating NAPAP's newly developed air quality model. The Regional Acid Deposition Model RADM enabled scientists to simulate how emissions interacted with the atmosphere to form acid rain, and where it would be transported and deposited. Dennis explained RADM was instrumental in answering questions about acid rain because it modeled atmospheric chemistry more accurately than other models used at the time.
Dennis said. The methods behind RADM carried over into the present-day Community Multi-scale Air Quality CMAQ modeling system, now a key model for air quality management. Donna Schwede is a physical scientist in ORD's Atmospheric and Environmental Systems Modeling Division. She said her team's work developing CMAQ is important for "predicting acid rain or wet deposition values, as well as looking at the ability of different proposed control strategies to reduce acid rain and its harmful effects on ecosystems.
Today, EPA continues to work to understand the impacts of acid rain through measurement and modeling. Scientists from EPA are active participants and leaders in the National Atmospheric Deposition Program, reasearch on acid rain, which monitors the chemistry of precipitation in the U. as part of the National Trends Network.
While some pieces of the acid rain puzzle remain, EPA scientists have played a critical role in the effort to mitigate the effects of acid rain, then and now. To date, initiatives like the Acid Rain Program have had great success in reducing the emissions causing acid rain. The national average of SO 2 annual ambient concentrations decreased 93 percent between and Wet sulfate deposition — a common indicator of acid rain — decreased 86 percent reduction from to In their work to address acid rain, EPA scientists not only advanced the field of environmental reasearch on acid rain, but also helped achieve substantial benefits for the environment and human health.
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Acid Rain: Causes, Effects, and Solutions
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Acid rain is one of the major environmental threats since 19th century. This paper reviews the progress report of US EPA () and summarizes the issue in various environmental blogger.comted Reading Time: 5 mins The Effects of Acid Rain. Overall the effects of acid rain on the environment have been devastating. Scandinavia has witnessed the destruction of over 5, aquatic ecosystems as a result of acid rain and Ontario Canada has lost fish in an estimated 4, lakes and streams Acid rain has ecological consequences in that it affects the soil, vegetation, especially forests, lakes (and hence fish). It causes economic damage to man-made structures (buildings, fabrics,Estimated Reading Time: 6 mins
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