MESOSCALE PROCESSES OF ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTANTS TRANSFER IN THE SOUTH BAIKAL REGION

Abstract

The article considers the results of experimental studies of mesoscale processes of atmospheric pollution transfer to the southern Baikal in the system of low-level atmospheric jet flows in the atmospheric boundary layer at heights up to 100–600 m. It is shown that the plumes of atmospheric emissions of large coal-fired power plants can be captured by the atmospheric jets and transferred to hundreds of kilometers without significant scattering and deposition. Such cases are observed, as a rule, at night and more often in the cold season of the year. The main pollutants in these plumes are sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxides, concentration of which in the region of Lake Baikal (70 km from the source) can reach the level from hundreds to thousands µg/m3. In the process of transfer, nitrogen oxides are partially oxidized by atmospheric ozone to nitrates (mainly to nitric acid), while ozone concentrations in the plume zone drop to zero, completely expending on oxidation.