Trends of air pollution in the Fichtelgebirge Mountains, Bavaria

We analyzed 13 years of hourly measurements of SO₂, NO_x, and O₃, at forest ecosystem research sites in SE Germany. A quasi-continuous data record was obtained by combining data sets from two locations. Before interpreting trends in the combined data set, we analyzed if the change of location introduced a systematic bias. We employed autocorrelation functions, Hurst statistics, complexity analysis, and recurrence quantification and found that the partial data sets exhibited no indication of the presence of any bias. For SO₂, we also compared the data from the forest sites with data obtained in nearby cities and also found no indications for any systematic effects. Applying nonparametric trend statistics we found a significant decrease of the SO₂. Most of the observed decrease is due to the reductions of SO₂ emissions in eastern Germany, but reductions in western Germany and the Czech Republic also played important roles. For O₃, we observed a significant increase, the causes of which are unclear from our data alone. No trend was identified for NO_x.     

Transport of particulate matter in natural waters — modelling and in situ-measurements

The significant processes controlling the fate of particulates are convection an dispersion on one hand, and sedimentation on the other hand. Due to inteparticulated reactions, larger aggregates can be formed from smaller units thus changing the sedimentation characteristics. These phenomena are summarized in a mathematical model whereby hydrodynamic effects as well as the control mechanisms of the dissolved phase are included. A relationship was derived on the basis of energy considerations leading to the formulation of a critical sedimentation velocity of the suspensa, which determines the transport capacity of the flowing system. The sedimentation term is calculated from the above discussed transport capacity, hydro-dynamic parameters and suspending media properties. Aggregation effects are taken into account as an increase of sedimentation velocities of the particles. The equations are solved in a particular computational routine such that the horizontal distribution of suspended solids in a natural system can be describe as function of the above discussed phenomena. The model was tested with in situ-measurements. It was found that the observed processes are described satisfactorily by this model.