Sulfur in the Siberian atmosphere

A significant part of anthropogenic sulfur emitted into the atmosphere of European industrial regions is transported to the Asian part of Russia. On the other hand, there are a lot of anthropogenic sulfur sources in Siberia itself, and emissions here tend to rise. By 1990s the total sulfur emission here was 3.4 Tg/year. The emission field is very uneven. Only one point source of sulfur dioxide provides annual emission of 1.1 Tg sulfur. So, Siberia can be not only the sink but also the source of atmospheric sulfur for the northwestern Pacific region. Generalization of monitoring data for last years shows that about 8 Tg of sulfur are removed from the atmosphere over Siberia annually. Main part of this sulfur is removed by wet deposition. The highest sulfur concentrations in air and precipitation are characteristic for industrialized areas of south-western Siberia. At the same time unpredictable high concentrations of excess sulfur in precipitation are observed over Pacific coast areas. The lowest sulfur concentrations can be found in the north-eastern regions of Siberia. Seasonal and long-term variations of atmospheric sulfur in Siberia are discussed.