- Email: [email protected]
The national atmospheric deposition program: an overview
Atmospheric Environment 34 (2000) 1661}1663
The national atmospheric deposition program: an overview Dennis Lamb!,*, Van Bowersox" !Meteorology Department, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA "National Atmospheric Deposition Program, Illinois State Water Survey, Champaign, IL 61820, USA Received 26 February 1998; accepted 10 September 1999
Abstract The National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP) is the organization overseeing the long-term sampling and analysis of precipitation across the United States, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The three NADP networks that collectively involve routine operations at about 280 sites strive to develop a chemical climatology of atmospheric deposition for the bene"t of scientists and agencies concerned with environmental e!ects. The papers included in the Special Section focused on the uses of NADP data o!er some new perspectives on chemical wet deposition. ( 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Deposition; Precipitation chemistry; NADP
The National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP) is an organization devoted to the measurement and assessment of trace chemical deposition from the atmosphere. Organized in 1977 under the leadership of the State Agricultural Experiment Stations (SAES), the NADP continues to address the phenomenon of atmospheric deposition and its e!ects on agricultural crops, forests, rangelands, and surface waters, as well as on other natural and cultural resources. The precipitation chemistry network of NADP began operations in 1978 by collecting weekly integrated, wet-only samples at 22 sites, mostly in the eastern United States. Then, as now, the samples were sent to the Central Analytical Laboratory (CAL) at the Illinois State Water Survey in Champaign, Illinois, where they were analyzed for ten inorganic ions following rigorous quality assurance procedures (NADP, 1990). NADP (1999) reviews the samplehandling protocols used at the CAL and details the various procedures employed to ensure that all NADP data are of the highest quality possible. Numerous other publications about the NADP and its various sampling
* Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (D. Lamb)
networks are listed on the internet at web sitehttp://nadp.sws.uiuc.edu/QA/bibliography.html. The original goal of providing data on the temporal trends and geographical distributions of the wet deposition of acidic compounds, nutrients, and base cations remains unchanged, although the network has grown to more than 200 sites across the U.S. and now includes a site in Puerto Rico and another in the Virgin Islands. The network that samples precipitation on a weekly basis to determine its ionic composition is now known as the National Trends Network or NTN. The black dots in Fig. 1 show the locations of the NADP/NTN sampling sites as of August 1999. Much of the growth in this network occurred in the 1980s, largely in response to requirements of the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program for a network of sampling stations having uniform siting criteria and operating procedures, as well as a common analytical laboratory. In the 1990s, the NADP expanded further to include two additional networks. The Atmospheric Integrated Research Monitoring Network (AIRMoN), e!ectively a continuation of the earlier Multi-state Atmospheric Power Production Pollution Study or MAP3S (MacCracken, 1978), joined NADP in 1992 and currently uses ten research sites (open circles in Fig. 1) to collect samples each day that precipitation occurs. AIRMoN precipitation samples are sent to the CAL for analysis of the same
1352-2310/00/$ - see front matter ( 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 1 3 5 2 - 2 3 1 0 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 4 2 5 - 2
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D. Lamb, V. Bowersox / Atmospheric Environment 34 (2000) 1661}1663
Fig. 1. Approximate locations of sampling sites in the three NADP networks: the National Trends Network (NTN), the Atmospheric Integrated Research Monitoring Network (AIRMoN), and the Mercury Deposition Network (MDN). Shown are active sites as of August 1999.
suite of analytes as measured by NTN. With its `dailya (rather than weekly) sampling protocol (Rothert et al., 1997), AIRMoN seeks to identify pollutant source}receptor relationships and the e!ects of emissions changes on precipitation chemistry. Daily measurements support the development of computer models that simulate atmospheric transport, transformation, and deposition of pollutants on a storm-by-storm basis. The Mercury Deposition Network (MDN) joined NADP in 1996 and currently uses 37 sites (open triangles in Fig. 1) to collect weekly integrated, wet-only samples that are analyzed at Frontier Geosciences, Inc., in Seattle, Washington, for total mercury and, in some cases, for methyl mercury (Lindberg and Vermette, 1995; Vermette et al., 1995). The MDN data help researchers investigate the atmospheric transport and deposition of mercury to surface waters, forested watersheds, and other receptors in danger of excessive exposure to this potentially harmful class of compounds. The NADP receives support from numerous state agencies, SAES, universities, and private companies, as well as from nine federal agencies, including the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Park Service (NPS), the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). In addition, Environment Canada and some Canadian provincial governments support MDN sites in Canada. NADP data, now available via the NADP internet home page (http://nadp.sws.uiuc.edu/), have been used by broad sectors of the educational, scienti"c, and commercial communities (Nilles et al., 1997). Some studies have served to de"ne the limits of data quality (e.g., See et al., 1989) or to validate sampling protocols (e.g., Butler and Likens, 1998). A particularly important use of the NTN data has been to detect spatial patterns and temporal trends in chemical deposition (e.g., Lynch et al., 1995). The collection of papers appearing in this Special Section of Atmospheric Environment arose from presentations given at the annual NADP Technical Committee Meeting held in St. Petersburg, Florida, 26}29 October 1998, in celebration of 20 yr of measuring atmospheric wet deposition continuously and consistently. These particular papers re#ect a general progression of concepts related to atmospheric deposition. Whereas the paper by Lynch et al. relates measured sulfate deposition across a broad region of the United States to sources of sulfur
D. Lamb, V. Bowersox / Atmospheric Environment 34 (2000) 1661}1663
dioxide (SO ) in a statistical way and "nds signi"cant 2 decreases in deposition in the years since implementation of Phase I controls on SO emissions (under Title IV of 2 the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990), the paper by Stein and Lamb uses a case-study approach with `dailya AIRMoN data to point out that large departures from average measures of deposition can be expected because of chemical links to oxidant chemistry. The paper by Mason et al. looks at both the wet and dry deposition of mercury to an important estuary of the U.S. The last three papers consider deposition to high-elevation ecosystems in the mountainous west. Zeller et al. contrast various wet and dry measurements of sulfur and nitrogen in a particular alpine ecosystem and point out the extreme care needed to obtain good data under high-wind and heavy snowfall conditions. Heuer and Tonnessen estimate critical loads of nitrogen and sulfur compounds to alpine ecosystems by using snowpack chemistry to supplement traditional NADP/NTN data. The "nal paper, that by Losleben et al., considers some of the reasons for the pattern of deposition found in the Rocky Mountains and points out the need to understand atmospheric circulation patterns and speci"c sources, especially when trying to explain high-pollution events. This collection of papers is representative of the type of research a!orded by NADP data and o!ers some new perspectives on the traditional theme of atmospheric deposition.
References Butler, T.J., Likens, G.E., 1998. Weekly and daily precipitation chemistry network comparisons in the Eastern U.S.: NADP/NTN vs MAP3S/AIRMoN. Atmospheric Environment 32, 3749}3765.
1663
Lindberg, S., Vermette, S., 1995. Workshop on sampling mercury in precipitation for the National Atmospheric Deposition Program. Atmospheric Environment 29, 1219}1220. Lynch, J.A., Grimm, J.W., Bowersox, V.C., 1995. Trends in precipitation chemistry in the United States: a national perspective, 1980}1992. Atmospheric Environment 29, 1231}1246. MacCracken, M.C., 1978. MAP3S: An investigation of atmospheric, energy related pollutants in the northeastern United States. Atmospheric Environment 12, 649}659. NADP, 1990. Quality Assurance Plan, NADP/NTN Deposition Monitoring. Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO. (Available from the NADP Program O$ce, Illinois State Water Survey, 2204 Gri$th Drive, Champaign, IL 61820.) NADP, 1999. Quality Assurance Report, National Atmospheric Deposition Program, 1996 and 1997. Miscellaneous Publication 188, prepared by Jane Rothert, National Atmospheric Deposition Program, Illinois State Water Survey, 2204 Gri$th Drive, Champaign, IL 61820, April 1999, 180 pp. Nilles M. A., Gordon J. D., Litteral C. J., Lear G., Copeland C., 1997. Uses of National Atmospheric Deposition Program/National Trends Network Data for science education and environmental problem solving; November 27, 1995 to February 10, 1997. Open-File Report 97-45, U.S. Geological Survey, Branch of Information Services, Box 25286, Denver, CO 80225}0286. Rothert J., Bowersox V., Artz R., 1997. The NADP Atmospheric Integrated Research Monitoring Network-wet (NADP/AIRMoN-wet): Site Operator's Manual. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Technical Memorandum ERL ARL-222, Air Resources Laboratory, Silver Spring, MD. See, R.B., Schroder, L.J., Willoughby, T.C., 1989. Quality-assurance assessment for constituents reported by the National Atmospheric Deposition Program and the National Trends Network. Atmospheric Environment 23, 1801}1806. Vermette, S., Lindberg, S., Bloom, N., 1995. Field tests for a regional Mercury Deposition Network - Sampling design and preliminary test results. Atmospheric Environment 29, 1247}1251.
The national atmospheric deposition program: an overview Dennis Lamb!,*, Van Bowersox" !Meteorology Department, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA "National Atmospheric Deposition Program, Illinois State Water Survey, Champaign, IL 61820, USA Received 26 February 1998; accepted 10 September 1999
Abstract The National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP) is the organization overseeing the long-term sampling and analysis of precipitation across the United States, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The three NADP networks that collectively involve routine operations at about 280 sites strive to develop a chemical climatology of atmospheric deposition for the bene"t of scientists and agencies concerned with environmental e!ects. The papers included in the Special Section focused on the uses of NADP data o!er some new perspectives on chemical wet deposition. ( 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Deposition; Precipitation chemistry; NADP
The National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP) is an organization devoted to the measurement and assessment of trace chemical deposition from the atmosphere. Organized in 1977 under the leadership of the State Agricultural Experiment Stations (SAES), the NADP continues to address the phenomenon of atmospheric deposition and its e!ects on agricultural crops, forests, rangelands, and surface waters, as well as on other natural and cultural resources. The precipitation chemistry network of NADP began operations in 1978 by collecting weekly integrated, wet-only samples at 22 sites, mostly in the eastern United States. Then, as now, the samples were sent to the Central Analytical Laboratory (CAL) at the Illinois State Water Survey in Champaign, Illinois, where they were analyzed for ten inorganic ions following rigorous quality assurance procedures (NADP, 1990). NADP (1999) reviews the samplehandling protocols used at the CAL and details the various procedures employed to ensure that all NADP data are of the highest quality possible. Numerous other publications about the NADP and its various sampling
* Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (D. Lamb)
networks are listed on the internet at web sitehttp://nadp.sws.uiuc.edu/QA/bibliography.html. The original goal of providing data on the temporal trends and geographical distributions of the wet deposition of acidic compounds, nutrients, and base cations remains unchanged, although the network has grown to more than 200 sites across the U.S. and now includes a site in Puerto Rico and another in the Virgin Islands. The network that samples precipitation on a weekly basis to determine its ionic composition is now known as the National Trends Network or NTN. The black dots in Fig. 1 show the locations of the NADP/NTN sampling sites as of August 1999. Much of the growth in this network occurred in the 1980s, largely in response to requirements of the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program for a network of sampling stations having uniform siting criteria and operating procedures, as well as a common analytical laboratory. In the 1990s, the NADP expanded further to include two additional networks. The Atmospheric Integrated Research Monitoring Network (AIRMoN), e!ectively a continuation of the earlier Multi-state Atmospheric Power Production Pollution Study or MAP3S (MacCracken, 1978), joined NADP in 1992 and currently uses ten research sites (open circles in Fig. 1) to collect samples each day that precipitation occurs. AIRMoN precipitation samples are sent to the CAL for analysis of the same
1352-2310/00/$ - see front matter ( 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 1 3 5 2 - 2 3 1 0 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 4 2 5 - 2
1662
D. Lamb, V. Bowersox / Atmospheric Environment 34 (2000) 1661}1663
Fig. 1. Approximate locations of sampling sites in the three NADP networks: the National Trends Network (NTN), the Atmospheric Integrated Research Monitoring Network (AIRMoN), and the Mercury Deposition Network (MDN). Shown are active sites as of August 1999.
suite of analytes as measured by NTN. With its `dailya (rather than weekly) sampling protocol (Rothert et al., 1997), AIRMoN seeks to identify pollutant source}receptor relationships and the e!ects of emissions changes on precipitation chemistry. Daily measurements support the development of computer models that simulate atmospheric transport, transformation, and deposition of pollutants on a storm-by-storm basis. The Mercury Deposition Network (MDN) joined NADP in 1996 and currently uses 37 sites (open triangles in Fig. 1) to collect weekly integrated, wet-only samples that are analyzed at Frontier Geosciences, Inc., in Seattle, Washington, for total mercury and, in some cases, for methyl mercury (Lindberg and Vermette, 1995; Vermette et al., 1995). The MDN data help researchers investigate the atmospheric transport and deposition of mercury to surface waters, forested watersheds, and other receptors in danger of excessive exposure to this potentially harmful class of compounds. The NADP receives support from numerous state agencies, SAES, universities, and private companies, as well as from nine federal agencies, including the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Park Service (NPS), the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). In addition, Environment Canada and some Canadian provincial governments support MDN sites in Canada. NADP data, now available via the NADP internet home page (http://nadp.sws.uiuc.edu/), have been used by broad sectors of the educational, scienti"c, and commercial communities (Nilles et al., 1997). Some studies have served to de"ne the limits of data quality (e.g., See et al., 1989) or to validate sampling protocols (e.g., Butler and Likens, 1998). A particularly important use of the NTN data has been to detect spatial patterns and temporal trends in chemical deposition (e.g., Lynch et al., 1995). The collection of papers appearing in this Special Section of Atmospheric Environment arose from presentations given at the annual NADP Technical Committee Meeting held in St. Petersburg, Florida, 26}29 October 1998, in celebration of 20 yr of measuring atmospheric wet deposition continuously and consistently. These particular papers re#ect a general progression of concepts related to atmospheric deposition. Whereas the paper by Lynch et al. relates measured sulfate deposition across a broad region of the United States to sources of sulfur
D. Lamb, V. Bowersox / Atmospheric Environment 34 (2000) 1661}1663
dioxide (SO ) in a statistical way and "nds signi"cant 2 decreases in deposition in the years since implementation of Phase I controls on SO emissions (under Title IV of 2 the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990), the paper by Stein and Lamb uses a case-study approach with `dailya AIRMoN data to point out that large departures from average measures of deposition can be expected because of chemical links to oxidant chemistry. The paper by Mason et al. looks at both the wet and dry deposition of mercury to an important estuary of the U.S. The last three papers consider deposition to high-elevation ecosystems in the mountainous west. Zeller et al. contrast various wet and dry measurements of sulfur and nitrogen in a particular alpine ecosystem and point out the extreme care needed to obtain good data under high-wind and heavy snowfall conditions. Heuer and Tonnessen estimate critical loads of nitrogen and sulfur compounds to alpine ecosystems by using snowpack chemistry to supplement traditional NADP/NTN data. The "nal paper, that by Losleben et al., considers some of the reasons for the pattern of deposition found in the Rocky Mountains and points out the need to understand atmospheric circulation patterns and speci"c sources, especially when trying to explain high-pollution events. This collection of papers is representative of the type of research a!orded by NADP data and o!ers some new perspectives on the traditional theme of atmospheric deposition.
References Butler, T.J., Likens, G.E., 1998. Weekly and daily precipitation chemistry network comparisons in the Eastern U.S.: NADP/NTN vs MAP3S/AIRMoN. Atmospheric Environment 32, 3749}3765.
1663
Lindberg, S., Vermette, S., 1995. Workshop on sampling mercury in precipitation for the National Atmospheric Deposition Program. Atmospheric Environment 29, 1219}1220. Lynch, J.A., Grimm, J.W., Bowersox, V.C., 1995. Trends in precipitation chemistry in the United States: a national perspective, 1980}1992. Atmospheric Environment 29, 1231}1246. MacCracken, M.C., 1978. MAP3S: An investigation of atmospheric, energy related pollutants in the northeastern United States. Atmospheric Environment 12, 649}659. NADP, 1990. Quality Assurance Plan, NADP/NTN Deposition Monitoring. Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO. (Available from the NADP Program O$ce, Illinois State Water Survey, 2204 Gri$th Drive, Champaign, IL 61820.) NADP, 1999. Quality Assurance Report, National Atmospheric Deposition Program, 1996 and 1997. Miscellaneous Publication 188, prepared by Jane Rothert, National Atmospheric Deposition Program, Illinois State Water Survey, 2204 Gri$th Drive, Champaign, IL 61820, April 1999, 180 pp. Nilles M. A., Gordon J. D., Litteral C. J., Lear G., Copeland C., 1997. Uses of National Atmospheric Deposition Program/National Trends Network Data for science education and environmental problem solving; November 27, 1995 to February 10, 1997. Open-File Report 97-45, U.S. Geological Survey, Branch of Information Services, Box 25286, Denver, CO 80225}0286. Rothert J., Bowersox V., Artz R., 1997. The NADP Atmospheric Integrated Research Monitoring Network-wet (NADP/AIRMoN-wet): Site Operator's Manual. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Technical Memorandum ERL ARL-222, Air Resources Laboratory, Silver Spring, MD. See, R.B., Schroder, L.J., Willoughby, T.C., 1989. Quality-assurance assessment for constituents reported by the National Atmospheric Deposition Program and the National Trends Network. Atmospheric Environment 23, 1801}1806. Vermette, S., Lindberg, S., Bloom, N., 1995. Field tests for a regional Mercury Deposition Network - Sampling design and preliminary test results. Atmospheric Environment 29, 1247}1251.