Acid Rain 12

Acid from the clouds Lake Barkevatn in Aust-Agder county used to have healthy stocks of trout and perch. As a result of acid rain, the trout stock died out in the mid-1970s and the perch stock at the beginning of the 1980s. · Precipitation that is polluted by sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOX) is known as acid rain. · Acidity is measured in pH units: the lower the pH, the more acidic the substance. …

…does not appear to be a problem as yet, except in eastern parts of Finnmark county. The large refineries on the Kola Peninsula in Russia spew out huge amounts of sulphur dioxide. The prevailing north-easterly winds carry most of this away from Norway, but despite this, more and more signs of damage are being discovered in rivers and lakes. Scientists estimate that critical loads have been exceeded in about 70 per cent of Sør-Varanger municipality.