CONTRIBUTION OF METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS AND EMISSION REDUCTION TO THE DECREASE OF SO2 CONCENTRATIONS IN GERMANY

The decrease of ambient SO2 concentrations in various parts of Germany in the course of the last two decades is described on the basis of me asurements from a set of stations located mainly in rural areas. The e ffect of a substantial emission reduction in the eighties was partly m asked by a series of cold winters. Unusually mild winters in the last years have had the opposite effect. Meteorological variations and emis sion reductions have been decoupled by stratifying data into appropria te classes of temperature and wind direction. The analysis shows that emission reductions have resulted in considerable reductions in SO2 le vels in southern and western Germany, but that changes in eastern and northern Germany are about equally due to favourable weather condition s. The method can also be used for forecasts and should in principal a lso be applicable to other air pollutants.