PREDICTION OF ATMOSPHERIC SULFATE DEPOSITION AT SENSITIVE RECEPTORS IN NORTHERN INDIA

Soil-derived particles in suspended particulate matter (SPM) are repor ted to be responsible for acid rain neutralization in India. A study o n the seasonal variability of SPM indicates that the winter season SPM levels are significantly less than the summer season SPM levels there by suggesting the winter season to be critical for acid rain. Therefor e, SO4 deposition is examined for the winter season at sensitive recep tors in northern India using a long-range air transport model. The UW- LRT model is employed to estimate the SO4 deposition levels at six loc ations given the point source emission quantities from 12 major source s. The model results match favourably with literature-reported deposit ion levels. The model results argue for a well-designed monitoring pro gram for measurement of sulphate deposition to better determine the ex tent of the problem and model calibration.