Acid deposition environmental, economic, and policy issues

INTERREGIONAL AIR POLLUTION MODELING THE STATE OF THE ART Edited by: S. Zwerver and J. Van Ham NATO. Challenges of Modern Society, Volume 9. Plenum Press, New York, 1985, pp 278, (U.S. $49.50) This is the ninth volume of a series of publications assembled in cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society (CCMS). The CCMS was established in 1969 and charged with developing meaningful environmental and social programs, Air pollution scientists have to be grateful to this initiative, which has provided valuable scientific results and a series of important conferences in air pollution modeling, This volume presents a collection of three extended review papers prepared by leading scientists from Western Europe and North America. They review the present developments in interregional modeling of air pollution and present the results of recent research on chemical transformation and removal processes. The first paper by van den Hout and van Dop reviews operational models, describing the transport, diffusion and chemical transformation of air pollutants on a horizontal scale varying from 50 to 5000 km. The second part of the paper describes 32 available models with a brief explanation of their spatial scale, atmospheric transport, air pollutant components, chemical processes, deposition, input requirements and numerical methods. In the second paper, van Aalst and Diederen deal with the removal and transformation processes in the atmosphere with respect to SO 2and NOx. I found their brief description of measurement methods for dry deposition useful. Removal processes in the atmosphere and in plumes are discussed separately, The third paper by Klug et al compares four different interregional air pollution models: 188

The Technische Hochschule Darmstadt ('rHD) Model, a 3D Eulerian box model; the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) Model, an Eulerian grid model; the National Institute of Public Health (RIV) Model, a Lagrangian Puff Model; and the Institute of Applied Scientific Research/Systems Applications I n c . (TNO/SAI) Model, an Eulerian grid model incorporating non-linear chemistry. The comparision and analysis is very detailed. The main conclusions seem to be that none of the models shows a clearsuperiority over the others and that the output differences are mainly due to the differences in processing the raw meteorological data. A brief subject index is provided. This is a very interesting book for air pollution scientists. American scientists will find it useful in becoming more acquainted with European modeling work in this field,

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ACID DEPOSITION ENVIRONMENTAL, ECONOMIC, AND POLICY

ISSUES Edited by: Donald D. Adams and Walter P. Page Plenum Press, New York, 1985, pp. 560. (U.S. $79.50) This book is an expanded version of the proceedings of the conference, "Acid Deposition: Environmental and Economic Impact" of acid deposition, held June 10 - 12, 1983 in Plattsburgh,

Environmental Software, 1986, Vol. 1, No. 3.

New York. It is divided into six sections: Introduction (1 paper), Atmospheric Processes and Transport (5 papers), Environmental Impacts to Aquatic Ecosystems and Processes (6 papers), Environmental Impacts to Terrestial Ecosystems and Processes (6 papers), Economic Impacts (4 papers), and Policy Issues (5 papers) Most contributions are interesting and a few of them are related to modeling or software applications, as discussed below. McLaren et al present a modeling simulation of SO 2 oxidation in summertime cloud water at Whiteface Mountain. Samson uses the ACID (Atmospheric Contributions to Interregional Deposition) Model, a Lagrangian receptor model, to diagnose the sources of acid deposition. Shaw reviews the use of available longrange transport models in determining emission control strategies for acid deposition. North presents a framework for the analysis of decisions on acid deposition, in particular the decision to impose additional controls on sulfur oxide emissions. This decision framework is implemented in the form of the ADEPT model, which is available through the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). Crocker and Cummings propose an analytical framework for assessing the economic benefits of reducing the material damages caused by acid deposition. The book is well printed. A very detailed subject index is provided.