[Trend in acid deposition at Tieshanping, Chonging during 2001-2010]

Although the total emission of sulphure dioxide (SO2) was reduced by more than 10% in the Eleventh Five-Year-Plan (2006-2010) in China, the total emission of nitrogen oxides (NOx) in the same period kept increasing. In order to evaluate the effects of the emission changes on acid depostion, a ten-year monitoring on forest throughfall was carried out from 2001 to 2010 at Tieshanping, Chongqing in Southwestern China. The results indicated there was a significantly decreasing trend of sulphur deposition and an increasing trend of nitrogen deposition, which coincided well with the dicreasing trend of SO2 emission and increasing tread of NOx emission in Chongqing, respectively. As the net effect, acid deposition was reduced by the emission contol. However, the total deposition of sulphur and nitrogen in 2010 was estimated to be 9.9 keq x (hm2 x a)(-1) and 4.5 keq x (hm2 x a)(-1), respectively according to the throughfall data, with the former probably overestimated by 28% and the latter underestimated by 50%. Since both the sulphur deposition and nitrogen deposition are higher than the highest levels in the history in Europe and North America, acid deposition is still a serious issue in Chongqing.