A mobile rain exclusion canopy system to determine dose-response relationships for crops and forest species

A fully automated rain exclusion canopy system has been designed and constructed to study the impact of simulated acid rain on the growth and yield of agricultural crops. The system consists of three, mobile greenhouse shelters which exclude ambient rainfall and apply simulated acid rain (SAR) treatments to crops established in field plots. All aspects of the field system are controlled by a microcomputer and data acquisition system. In addition, elevated ambient levels of gaseous pollutants (e.g. O₃, SO₂, NO_x) are reduced in field plots via an air exclusion system consisting of large blowers, potassium permanganate-treated alumina filters and perforated polyethylene tubes. Gaseous pollutants can be injected into the treatment plots via the blowers.