Abstract:
The purpose of this research was to conduct the amount of acid deposition in thesouthern region of Thailand quantitatively. The sampling site was carried out at the Prince ofSongkhla University, Hatyai, Songkhla province. The acid deposition composed of wetdeposition in the form of rain water and dry deposition collected from the atmosphere.Rainwater samples were collected on daily basis using an automatic wet only collector. For thedry aerosol deposition, the ambient air was drawn through a 4-stage filter pack by a suctionpump continuously for 7days, once month for a period of 12 monthsThe result of wet deposition study showed that the annual average pH value of the rainwater was 5.6. This indicated that the ambient condition in the southern region was not in theacidic range. The chemical analyses also showed the highest ion concentration of Na+ of 23.9microgram/liter, followed by Ci, NH,', SO,^^, c?, M<, NO, LLa: K+ at the values of 23.4,16.1, 14.1, 16.2, 12.2, 8.8, 7.5 bLa: 3.1 microgram/liter, respectively. The ratio of NO,- / SO:.was 0.58. The value smaller than 1 indicated the influence of the sulfur compound in the rainwater to be higher than the nitrogen compound. The ratio of (ca2+,M < LLa: NH,) / (NO,' andSO:) was determined to be 2.03. This value also indicated the influence of c?, Mg2+ andNH,' to play an important part as the buffering ions, in which they had tendency to neutralizeacidity of the rain water. The quantity of wet acid deposition of SO:- and NO, in Songkhlawere found to be 21.8 and 11.2 milliequivalent per square meter per year, respectively.The dry deposition study in the southern region showed the highest concentration ofNH, in the atmosphere. Its maximum concentration was found to be 138.7 nanomoles persquare meter. The concentration of other gases, i.e., HCl, SO, and HNO, were found to be 49.1,18.5 and 11.6 nanomoles per square meter, respectively. The deposition velocities of gaseousSO, and HNO, in the region were calculated to be 2.2 and 2.3 centimeters per second,respectively. The deposition velocity depended on the meteorological condition and resistanceof the atmospheric layer and the canopy above the earth surface. The quantity of dry aciddeposition of SO, and HNO, in Songkhla were determined to be 34.0 ILa: 25.9 micromoles persquare meter per day, or equivalent to 12,410 and 9,454 micromoles per square meter per year,respectively.A comparative study on the wet and dry acid depositions showed that the quantity ofwet deposition was 2.5 times higher than the dry deposition. The study could be shown also thatthe amount of sulfur deposition was 4 times higher than the nitrogen.It should be noted by this study that the high concentration of ionic sea salt, i.e. N$and Ci as well as NH,' were found in the rain water samples. The amount of gaseous NH, wassignificantly high also. These indicated the sources of emission from the industrial andagricultural activities nearby the study area.