Total peroxides in rainwater at two mountainous sites and in Mexico City,Mexico

Rainwater samples were collected in the western sector of Mexico City (MC) and at Rancho Viejo (RV), 80 km west-south-west of MC, from 2001 to 2005, and Orizaba City (OC), about 90 km from the Gulf of Mexico, where rainwater collections were only possible on some weekends in 2001. Rainwater samples were treated in the field, and analysed by fluorescence at the laboratory. The volume-weighted mean concentration (VWMC) of H₂O₂ was 13.2 μM at RV, and 11.2 μM in MC, for the period 2001–2005. The highest VWMC was observed in OC (21.6 μM). The VWMCs for each year were 9.5, 14.4, 11.5, 16.7, and 14.3 μM at RV, and 12.2, 12.2, 14.3, 11.8, and 9.9 μM in MC, for 2001–2005, respectively. Hydrogen peroxide in rainwater correlated significantly and negatively with sulfate in both MC and RV, but not, however, in OC. This study confirmed that H₂O₂ concentration in rainwater is controlled by a complex combination of rain intensity, washout processes and in-cloud formation of H₂O₂, acting simultaneously. This was suggested by the fact that rain intensity seemed to predominate in certain rain fractions of a rain event, while washout processes seemed to predominate in other fractions of the same rain event.