A review of air pollution and atmospheric deposition dynamics in southern Saxony, Germany, Central Europe

This is the first comprehensive compilation of air pollution history in the Erzgebirge region. It presents selected data sets from more than 20 years of continuous research, chosen after rigorous quality control. Gases and particulates, and wet deposition are discussed in sequence. The gases include SO2, NOx, O3, and fluorine compounds. SO2-concentrations declined from about 80 to 120 μg m3 until 1990 to 5–10 μg SO2 m3 air today, while NOx shows little change, and O3 steadily increases as of 1990. Fluoride deposition decreased with SO2. Particle deposition is differentiated by sampling methods and grain sizes, and their chemical composition. The total amount of aerosols has decreased in the past 12 years, and many trace constituents now show 10% of their previous concentrations. Precipitation is represented by wet only, throughfall, fog and cloud water deposition, including major and minor chemical compounds. As with the gases, S-compounds decreased considerably. While NO3-N-concentrations show a slight decline (from 13 to 10–11 kg ha−1 a−1 in throughfall deposition); no trend is visible for NH4-N. As of the mid-1990s, continuously lower base cation inputs are being measured, and pH-values are on steady increase (now 4.8). The final synopsis rounds up the experience gained from those valuable data sets and can be used for many regions worldwide.