The Chemistry of Acid Rain: Sources and Atmospheric Processes. Russell W. Johnson and Glen E. Gordon, Eds. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC 20036. 1987. xi 337 pages. $59.95, cloth, United States and Canada, $71.95 elsewhere.
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Reviewed by Je$ry S. Gafiey, Los A h m s National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545. The Chemistry of Acid Rain: Sources and Atmospheric Processes was developed from a symposium held in New York City in April 1986, sponsored by the Petroleum Chemistry, Nuclear Chemistry and Technology, Environmental Chemistry, and Fuel Chemistry Divisions of the American Chemical Society. The book, part of the ACS Symposium Series (no. 349), is a collection of 27 papers that are divided into seven categories: general, receptor models, cloud chemistry and physics, kinetics, wet and dry deposition, experimental methods, and fundamental processes. Also included are an author index, an affiliation index, and a subject index. In the preface the editors state, “The objective of this volume is to describe recent advances in the understanding of the sources and chemistry of acidic species in the atmosphere”-a worthwhile goal. Like most books in the ACS Symposium Series, however, The Chemistry of Acid Rain: Sources and Atmospheric Processes is merely a collection of papers stuffed between two hard covers. Glen Gordon attempts to put together an overview, “A Decade of Acid Rain Research,” that ties the following 26 papers together. He addresses the massive amount of data that have been obtained over the years, as well as the information presented in this symposium collection. Gordon poses the question, “Can we provide timely information for design of control strategies?” and concludes that it remains difficult to determine the impact that various control strategies will have on the environment on a regional scale. Gordon makes a strong point that it is necessary to test the models under development. He forthrightly points out the problem of trying to develop and test our understanding of acid rain chemistry in light of the time constraints on environmental regulation. This aspect,of his chapter is well done and clearly indicates the issues that have not been resolved regarding oxi1272 Environ. Sci. Technol., Vol. 22, No. 11, 1988
dant (e.g., ozone and hydrogen peroxide) and acid synergisms. Gordon’s attempt to tie the rest of the chapters together is not as successful. He tries, but when he states that the Regional Acid Deposition Model (RADM) is a key to the mitigation of acid rain, the reader is likely to wonder why a paper on RADM chemistry was not included in the book. I was glad to see that Gordon cites hydrogen peroxide and other oxidants as harmful components of acid rain, although no studies on the effects of acidified solutions of peroxide are reported in the book. In Chapter 3 Pierson et al. briefly describe the extensive field research program that has been carried out at Allegheny Mountain by Ford Motor Co. The Western Atlantic Ocean Experiment is described in detail by Galloway and co-workers in Chapter 4. llvo receptor model approaches are presented in papers by lhncel et al. and by Lewis and Stevens. The contribution by Kitto and Anderson should have been included in the receptor model section, but instead it was placed in the cloud chemistry and physics sectioneven though it never mentions clouds. One bright spot in the book is Chapter 8 by Schwartz. It is a well-written and well-documented overview of aqueous-phase reactions in clouds. In Chapter 9, Tang and Lee find sulfur dioxide to be more manageable than ozone. The contributionby Bahnemann et al. (Chapter 10) presents evidence for photocatalytic formation of hydrogen petoxide. In Chapter 11 Hines and Wine have added a kinetic study of the OH-dimethyl sulfide reaction, and in Chapter 12 Jaeschke and Herrmann show that aqueous oxidation of SO2 by hydrogen peroxide is rapid. Chapter 13 by Tanaka and coresearchers points out that acid rain is a worldwide problem and that Japan is not immune. Chapter 14 discusses the products formed when OH reacts with sulfur-containingcompounds other than SOz. I find it encouraging that these researchers are looking beyond SO2. Chapter 15, by Gertler, Robinson, and Miller, describes a facility to simulate in-cloud chemical transformations at the Desert Research Institute (Reno, NV). It is unclear why this paper was not part of the section on cloud chemistry and physics. The section on wet and dry deposition begins with Chapter 16 by Hicks, Hosker, and Womack. This chapter de-
scribes the first year of trial deposition monitoring at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’sdry deposition trial network. Chapter 17 by Vong et al. discusses rainwater chemistry downwind from a copper smelter. Chapter 18 by Landsberger et al. discusses sulfur, halogens, and heavy metals in acid raindrops. Chapter 19 by Chapman and Sklarew examines the introduction of formate and acetate into precipitation. The authors conclude that formate and acetate come from the gas phase, but do not explain their origin. Chapter 20 by Topel, Lev-On, and Pollack suggests that we need to consider the time frame in which we interpret data: Because it does not rain all the time, episodic events can be important. Dasch examines the differences in the chemistry of wintertime wet deposition in Chapter 21. Like many others, he finds nitrate higher than sulfate in snow, and the reverse in rain. This may occur because peroxynitric acid ties up H02, is water soluble, and is stable below 0 “C. Chapter 22 by Waldman and coworkers examines pollutant deposition in fog. In Chapter 23, Dokiya et al. discuss how air pollution attacks Japan and show that we have not cornered the market on smog and acid rain. Chapter 24 by Schiff, Harris, and Mackay explains how to use a tunable diode laser system to confirm the accuracy of measurements. Chapter 25 by Tanner gives a good overview of the available chemical instrumentation for atmospheric measurements. The final papers cover fundamental processes. Orehowski, Scaroni, and Derbyshire discuss factors affecting NO, production during char oxidation, and Keesee and Castleman discuss acid clusters. Some general remarks are in order here. I found it difficult to read much of the text because of the poor quality of the reproduction of the contributed papers in the book. Moreover, I found numerous typographical and page numbering errors in the text and in the references. The title and packaging of The Chemistry of Acid Rain: Sources and Atmospheric Processes may be confusing to those who are not familiar with the ACS Symposium Series style and who expect a well-thought-out text that provides an overview of atmospheric chemistry and processes. In this respect, this book falls short.
0013-936X/88/0922-1272$01.50/0 0 1988 American Chemical Society
