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ASSESSING THE EFFECT OF SO2 EMISSION CHANGES ON VISIBILITY
Citation:
Malm, J.T., W., J. Sisler, M. Pitchford, AND R. Dennis. ASSESSING THE EFFECT OF SO2 EMISSION CHANGES ON VISIBILITY. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/J-95/273, 1994.
Description:
During the 1970s the effect of acid rain on the environment became a growing concern to scientists, public policy officials, interest groups, and the general population. he United States Congress mandated a 10-year study, National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program (NAPAP), to examine the relationship between acid rain related emissions and environmental effects including visibility. t was found that averaging over both space and time (1 yr) that a 21% improvement in visibility could be expected from a 10-million ton reduction in SO2 emissions. he biggest improvement is expected along the Ohio River Valley. xamining the distribution of visibility improvements shows that 15 d yr-1 with lowest sulfate concentrations and least sulfate reduction there will be a just perceptible improvement, while on the other end of the spectrum 15 d yr-1 with the highest sulfate concentration and with the largest sulfate reduction there will be a 35% improvement in extinction. he paper also reviews the assumptions required to carry out the assessment and points out shortcomings in our understanding of the relationship between SO2 emissions and visibility.