THE MONITORING OF ACIDIC DRY DEPOSITION HAS POSED SIGNIFICANT LOGISTICAL AND TECHNICAL PROBLEMS WHICH MUST BE OVERCOME AS PART OF OUR NATIONAL EFFORT TO ACCURATELY CHARACTERIZE AND UNDERSTAND ACID PRECIPITATION PATTERNS.

THE MONITORING OF ACIDIC DRY DEPOSITION HAS POSED SIGNIFICANT LOGISTICAL AND TECHNICAL PROBLEMS WHICH MUST BE OVERCOME AS PART OF OUR NATIONAL EFFORT TO ACCURATELY CHARACTERIZE AND UNDERSTAND ACID PRECIPITATION PATTERNS. THE SAMPLING EQUIPMENT IN WIDESPREAD USE TODAY HAS AS ITS TECHNOLOGICAL BASIS MANY FEATURES OF A 50-YEAR-OLD RAINFALL COLLECTOR, MODIFIED TO INCLUDE DRY SAMPLE COLLECTION. A SAMPLING DEVICE, ADVANCED BY RECENT NASA RESEARCH, HAS THE POTENTIAL FOR MORE WIDESPREAD APPLICATION WITH MINIMAL ADDITIONAL DEVELOPMENT. THIS DEVICE, THE "ELECTRET", IS A SMALL, PASSIVE SAMPLER DESIGNED TO RETAIN AIR CONTAMINANTS TO WHICH IT IS EXPOSED, AND TO BE ANALYZED FOR CHEMICAL COMPOSITION BY A MASS SPECTROMETER. WHILE THE CONTAMINANTS TARGETED BY NASA WERE ROCKET EXHAUST EFFLUENT GASES AND PARTICLES, THOSE OF CONCERN IN THIS STUDY ARE THE ACIDIC CONSTITUENTS OF DRY ATMOSPHERIC DEPOSITION. THE TECHNOLOGICAL GAP WHICH REMAINS IN THE DEVELOPMENT AND USE OF THE ELECTRET, EVEN BY NASA, IS A CALIBRATION PROCEDURE WHICH WILL PERMIT A QUANTITATIVE INTERPRETATION OF THE CHEMICAL RESULTS. THIS RESEARCH WILL DEVELOP A CALIBRATION PROCEDURE WHICH CAN THEN BE USED TO DEMONSTRATE THAT THE ELECTRET IS A VIABLE CANDIDATE FOR USE IN MEASURING ACIDIC DRY DEPOSITION.