The Transport of Sulfur and Nitrogen through the Remote Atmosphere Working Group Report

Abstract

The transport of sulfur and nitrogen species in the troposphere takes place on many different spatial scales, depending on where the species are released and how efficient the transformation and removal processes are, both en route and in the particular area of interest. A better knowledge of these processes is highly desirable. Sulfur and nitrogen species are released in localized areas through man’s activities on the earth’s surface and through natural processes, e.g., in tropical rain forests, over the oceans, in agricultural areas, and even in the free troposphere where nitrogen oxides can be formed by lightning (see Chap­ter 2). Such meteorological phenomena as clouds, precipitation, and wind speed play decisive roles in the processes determining the transport, transformation, and removal of most sulfur and nitrogen species from different regions of the troposphere (cf. Chapter 5).