Research Progress in Precipitation Chemistry in China

The acid rain area in China is one of the three main acid rain areas in the world , next to Europe and North America. Most acid deposition investigations have been concerned with precipitation chemistry in China. The results for precipitation chemistry of China obtained by Chinese and foreign researchers are overviewed in this paper. Major conclusions are : High H + concentrations of precipitation have occurred in South and South Western China which have become areas with the highest acidity of precipitation in the world ; The pollution of precipitation in China is still sulfur type with a trend to sulfuric2nitrous mixed type ; Concentrations of dominant anions (SO4 2 - and NO3 - ) and cations (NH4 + and Ca 2 + ) in precipitation are much higher than that in Europe and North America ; The high acidity and ionic concentration in precipitation at alpine sites and cloud - water in eastern and southern China indicates that upper air has been polluted seriously ; Characteristics of precipitation chemistry in different areas of China and the origins of acid rain formation have been discussed ; Finally , future research is suggested.