UK Pollutant Deposition

Emissions of air pollutants significantly impact the environment. Poor air quality can detrimentally affect human health, while the deposition of these pollutants back to Earth can alter ecosystems, diminish biodiversity, and reduce water quality. Air pollutants are naturally removed from the atmosphere through two primary mechanisms: wet deposition, involving rain, snow, and fog, and dry deposition, which is the direct uptake of gases and particles by land and water surfaces.

The key components relevant for atmospheric deposition include sulphur, reactive nitrogen, chlorine, base cations, and heavy metals. This site specifically provides UK-focused information on atmospheric deposition, with support from Defra and the UK Devolved Administrations. It serves as a valuable complement to other national resources like UK-AIR, which concentrates on air pollutant concentrations and their implications for human health, and UKREATE, which addresses the broader impacts of air pollution on terrestrial ecosystems.

Featured topics include insights into ammonia (NH3) emissions, which have seen a significant increase across Europe over the last century, and the operations of the UK Acid Gases and Aerosols Monitoring Network, active since September 1999. The site also provides details on heavy metals, an ill-defined subset of chemical elements with various environmental effects.