RUI: Organic Acids in Coastal North Carolina Rainwater

酸雨和酸沉积已经成为主要的科学和政治问题。由于溶解的二氧化碳，雨水有一种天然的酸度。尽管人类活动排放的某些气体会使雨水的酸度变得更大，但其他自然来源也可能起到同样的作用。在这些自然来源中，植被可能是一种天然有机酸的来源，如醋酸和甲酸。了解有机酸的作用、其来源以及生态系统在其起源中的影响，与更全面地了解导致酸雨形成的过程有关。该项目的一个主要目标是建立北卡罗来纳州两个不同但附近的沿海环境--盐沼和森林--雨水中甲酸和醋酸的浓度范围，以评估生态系统是否可以影响其接收的降水的组成。雨水将在生长季节和非生长季节以暴雨为基础进行收集。雨水样本将用离子色谱分析氯化物、硫酸盐、硝酸盐、铵、甲酸和甲酸。还将测量雨水的酸度(PH)。第二个目标是确定采样程序对甲酸和醋酸测量浓度的影响。

Acid rain and acid deposition have become major scientific and political concerns. Rain has a natural acidity due to dissolved carbon dioxide. Although the acidity of rain can be made even greater by the emission of certain gases from human endeavors, other natural sources may contribute as well. Among these natural sources is vegetation which is presumably a source of natural organic acids such as acetic and formic acids. An understanding of the role of organic acids, their origin, and the influence of ecosystems in their origin is relevant to a more complete understanding of processes leading to the formation of acid rain. A primary goal of this project is to establish concentration ranges of formic and acetic acid in rainwater from two distinct but nearby coastal North Carolina environments, a salt marsh and a forest, to evaluate whether an ecosystem can influence the composition of the precipitation that it receives. Rainwater will be collected on an storm event basis during growing and non-growing seasons. The rainwater samples will be analyzed by ion chromatography for chloride, sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, formic acid, and formic acid. The acidity (pH) of the rainwater will be measured as well. A secondary goal is to determine the effect of sampling procedure on the measured concentrations of formic and acetic acids.