The relationship between upwind SO2 emissions and SO4- concentrations in precipitation at six sites in the eastern U.S.A.

Abstract

A method for estimating the upwind SO2 emissions associated with individual wet SO42- deposition events has been developed. The relationship between these estimates and wet SO42- concentrations was examined at six Utility Acid Precipitation Study Program Sites (UAPSP) for the 1979-1986 period. Using Spearman correlation coefficients and the Bonferroni experimentwise criterion for statistical significance it was found that upwind emissions and concentrations were significantly related (p 42- concentrations were taken into account by calculating partial correlation coefficients. A higher percentage of the resulting correlations were found to be statistically significant and the differences between sites decreased. This suggested that meteorological variability had a confounding influence on the detection of a link between concentrations and emissions. This influence should be considered when studying source-receptor relationships.