Photo-oxidants, Acidification and Tools

EUROTRAC is the EUREKA environmental project studying the transport and chemical transformation of pollutants in the troposphere over Europe. At its inception in 1988 it had three aims: * to increase the basic understanding of atmospheric science; * to promote the technological development of sensitive, specific, fast-response instrumentation for environmental research and monitoring; and * to improve the scientific basis for taking future political decisions on environmental management within Europe. It was clear at an early stage, as the fourteen subprojects were formed and more than two hundred research groups in twenty-four countries were incorporated, that the first aim would readily be achieved. An ample demonstration that the early indications were correct is provided in the other volumes in this series which describe the scientific progress made. Substantial progress was also made towards achieving the second aim although some problems were encountered, mainly due to the high cost of the technological development required.

The major environmental concerns in the troposphere are the increasing burden of photo-oxidants on all scales, the acidification of soil and water, and the atmospheric contribution to nutrient inputs to ecosystems. This book assimilates the many scientific results from the EUROTRAC project about the state of the troposphere over Europe on local, regional and global scales, and presents them in a form suitable for use by those responsible for environmental planning and management in Europe. The findings and conclusions illustrate the complexities which face both environmental policy makers, seeking to find ways to abate pollution on a regional scale, and scientists, wishing to study and understand the scientific problems. This book is volume 10 of the series on Transport and Chemical Transformation of Pollutants in the Troposphere.