Mineral base-cation deposition in Asia

Efforts are being made to model the role of base-cation deposition due to wind-blown dust particles from arid and semi arid regions in Central and Eastern Asia. In this paper, we estimate base-cation deposition in Asia on a one-degree spatial resolution in the region from Pakistan to Japan, and from Indonesia to Russia resulting from emissions from arid and semi-arid regions in China and Mongolia. Fluxes of base-cation rich soils into the atmosphere are estimated based on meteorological and land use information. The long-range transport and deposition of these particles are modeled using a multi-layer long-range transport model. Atmospheric concentrations and deposition fluxes (both wet and dry) of base-cation rich soils are estimated on a monthly basis for the springtime, when dust storms are most active. The calculated fluxes are compared to observations and are also used in estimations of acidic ''Critical Loads'' for Asia. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd