Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

SAES-422 Multistate Research Activity Accomplishments Report Project Number: NRSP-3 Project Title: The National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP)  A Longterm Monitoring Program in Support of Research on the Effects of Atmospheric Chemical Deposition Period Covered: 1-2007 to 12-2007 Date of Report: December 14, 2006 Meeting Dates: September 10 - 13, 2007 Accomplishments The NRSP-3 sets a framework for cooperation among State Agricultural Experiment Stations,universities, government agencies, and nongovernmental organizations that participate in and support the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP). The NADP provides quality assured data and information on the exposure of managed and natural ecosystems and cultural resources to acidic compounds, nutrients, base cations, and mercury in precipitation. Researchers use NADP data to investigate the impacts of atmospheric deposition on the productivity of managed and natural ecosystems; on the chemistry of estuarine, surface and ground waters; and on biodiversity in forests, shrubs, grasslands, deserts, and alpine vegetation. These research activities address the environment, natural resources, and landscape stewardship, one of the Experiment Station Sections top five National Research Priorities. Researchers also use NADP mercury data to examine the role of atmospheric deposition in affecting the mercury in fish tissue, and better understand the link between environmental and dietary mercury and human health, which fits another National Research Priority, relationship of food to human health. To provide data for characterizing geographic patterns and temporal trends of atmospheric chemical deposition, the NADP operates three precipitation chemistry networks: (1) The National Trends Network (NTN) is the only network providing a long-term record of the acids, nutrients, and base cations in U.S. precipitation. The NTN began in 1978 at 22 sites and now has more than 250 sites (see http://nadp.sws.uiuc.edu/sites/ntnmap.asp?). (2) The Mercury Deposition Network (MDN) joined the NADP in 1996 and reports the total mercury content of precipitation. Emphasis on increasing the number and geographic coverage of sites has resulted in network growth to more than 100 sites (see http://nadp.sws.uiuc.edu/mdn/sites.asp). (3) The Atmospheric Integrated Research Monitoring Network (AIRMoN) joined the NADP in 1992. Seven sites located in the eastern U.S., provide daily measurements for studying atmospheric processes and developing models (see http://nadp.sws.uiuc.edu/AIRMoN/getamdata.asp). NADP Web Site. The NADP Web site has registered users from more than 150 countries and from every continent but Antarctica. In 2007, the number of registered users increased by 4,473 (~13.5 percent), bringing the registrant total to 37,148. Atmospheric deposition and watershed studies were the leading topics of researchers using NADP data. A record 24,538 data downloads were recorded in 2007. Over the last decade, this measure of data usage more than doubled, Web page hits increased nearly six-fold to 1.4 million per year, and the number of color concentration and deposition maps viewed rose five-fold to 126,000 per year. The site lets users selectively retrieve sample and site data, tabular summaries, seasonal and annual averages, trend plots, concentration and deposition maps, reports, manuals, and other data and information about the program. Emerging Issues. As in 2006, NADP again partnered with the USDA Cereal Disease Laboratory (CDL) to test rain samples for evidence of Phakopsora pachyrhizi, commonly known as Asian Soybean Rust (ASR). ASR is an obligate fungal parasite that can inflict significant losses in soybean and other leguminous crops. From infected plants, ASR spreads through aerial release and dispersal of urediniospores, which can remain airborne for hundreds of kilometers before clouds and rain scavenge and deposit them, potentially on a soybean crop. Under the right conditions of temperature, moisture, and crop stage, ASR spores can germinate and spread the infection. ASR now regularly overwinters in kudzu in Gulf Coast states. During the growing season, it spreads northward by deposition of spores in rain and during dry weather. With partial support from the Agricultural Research Service, weekly samples from 75 eastern- U.S. NTN sites were filtered in entirety. Filters were desiccated, sealed in Petri dishes, and sent to the CDL, where they were assayed for an ASR-specific DNA sequence using nested real-time PCR. Over a 17-week period (29 May-25 September), the CDL reported 89 (or 7 percent of) filters positive for ASR, some from areas where ASR was later reported on soybean or kudzu. For example, late August rain samples from two Iowa NTN sites tested positive; and from 28 September to 23 October, ASR was reported in 13 Iowa counties. Each year since the initial ASR reports in the contiguous U.S. in November 2004, the disease has infected a larger area. Results from this project are being used to study spore deposition, evaluate spore transport and deposition models, and examine how spore deposition and disease outbreak are related. Educational/Extension Activities. NADP staff members assisted authors and publishers to introduce NADP color isopleth maps into new college textbooks. One example is an introductory chemistry textbook for non-majors entitled Chemistry in Context, Applying Chemistry to Society, first introduced as a project of the American Chemical Society in 1994 and now in its fifth printing. The chapter on Neutralizing the Threat of Acid Rain uses NADP pH, sulfate and nitrate maps to provide a contextual basis for teaching about acids and bases. Each new addition of this text expands its use of NADP maps and data and plans are to include MDN maps in the next edition. The authors of the new textbook Fundamentals of General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry use NTN sulfate maps to illustrate how Clean Air Act rules have affected real-world acid-base chemistry. Similarly, the authors of the recently released Chemistry the Practical Science use NTN pH and MDN concentration maps to illustrate acid-base and chemical coordination principles at work in nature; and, an NADP precipitation map is used to illustrate isopleth map-making in the text Geographic Information Systems Demystified. Again in 2007, NADP staff participated in the University of Illinois Agriculture Extensions Stewardship Week, designed to engage elementary school students in hands-on learning activities in the environmental sciences. Eighteen classes of students in grades 2 through 6 participated in a learning activity about water quality by measuring the pH of lake water, drinking water, and rain samples from NADP sites across the country. Supporting informed decisions on air quality issues. In its most recent progress report, Acid Rain and Related Programs, 2006 Progress Report, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) described the NADP networks as a critical link in the chain of accountability that scientists and policymakers use to determine whether emissions decreases required by the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments have reduced acidic deposition and translated into ecosystem recovery. In its report, the USEPA used NTN data to demonstrate the efficacy of the Act. The report compared average 1989-1991 and 2004-2006 sulfate and dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) deposition in four eastern regions: Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Northeast, and Southeast. Over this 15-year period, sulfate deposition decreased in all four regions, ranging from an average decrease of 21 percent in the Southeast to 35 percent in the Northeast. These decreases were consistent with sulfur dioxide emissions reductions at electric generating units targeted by the Act. Since 1990, these units also trimmed nitrogen oxide emissions by more than 3 million tons. DIN deposition decreased as well, but by only 5 percent on average in the Southeast, 9 percent in the Midwest, 16 percent in the Mid-Atlantic, and 25 percent in the Northeast. In each region, these decreases were only about half of the decreases in precipitation nitrate, owing in part to offsetting increases in ammonium, the other nitrogen compound comprising DIN. In its 2004 report, Air Quality Management in the United States, the National Research Council (NRC) recommended investigating the use of critical loads as a potential mechanism to address the need for alternative air quality standards to protect ecosystems. A critical load is the quantitative estimate of the exposure to one or more pollutants below which significant harmful effects on sensitive elements of the environment do not occur according to present knowledge. As a follow-up to the NRC report, a multi-agency workshop was held to address critical loads from atmospheric sulfur and nitrogen deposition. A workshop recommendation was to establish an NADP committee that could facilitate communications on the science of critical loads. The NADP Executive Committee acted on this recommendation by forming the NADP Critical Loads AD hoc committee (CLAD). Its purpose is to provide a venue for discussing current and emerging issues regarding the science and application of critical loads for atmospheric deposition in the United States. The CLAD committee meets in conjunction with other spring and fall NADP committee meetings and has a page on the NADP Web site where additional information is accessible (http://nadp.sws.uiuc.edu/clad/). Publications. There were more than 100 publications, using NADP data or resulting from NRSP-3 activities in 2007. An on-line database that lists citations using NADP data is accessible at http://nadp.sws.uiuc.edu/lib/bibsearch.asp. Plans for 2007/2008 -Serving science and education. The NADP will continue to support researchers and educators by providing up-to-date quality-assured data and information on acids , nutrients, base cations, and mercury in precipitation. Work is proceeding on an overhaul of the NADP Web site, beginning with a new Home Page and including a new organizational structure. The new site will be less cumbersome to modify and update and will feature more pictures and graphic images, while retaining ready access to maps and tabular and graphical data summaries. A new section on educational resources for K-12 and university students will be added. Plans are to activate the new Web site at the 2008 annual meeting in Madison, Wisconsin, where NADP will celebrate its 30 year of network operations. - Supporting informed decisions on air quality issues. In 2005, the U.S. EPA promulgated the Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR), which requires electric utilities to reduce mercury emissions beginning in 2010. While NADP/MDN data are used to evaluate the relationship between mercury emissions and wet deposition, there are no comparable measurements of airborne mercury. Airborne mercury is present in three forms: gaseous elemental mercury (GEM),reactive gaseous mercury (RGM), and total particle-bound mercury (TPM). RGM is soluble, reactive, and efficiently removed in wet and dry deposition. Estimates suggest that dry deposition may be three times wet deposition, especially in hot spots near atmospheric mercury sources where RGM concentrations are high. This points to the need for airborne mercury measurements, if the emissions reductions under CAMR are to be evaluated accurately. To address this need, the NADP plans to begin retrieving GEM, RGM, and TPM measurements from nine continuous monitors operating under NADP-approved standard operational procedures. Measurements will begin in 2008. Near real-time quality control tests will be applied and valid data will be posted on the NADP Web site. Data will be used for model development, examining the spatial and temporal distributions of airborne mercury concentrations, estimating dry deposition fluxes, and determining the location of mercury deposition hot spots. - Responding to emerging issues. Recent evidence suggests that gaseous ammonia has an important and increasing role in fine particle formation. NADP/NTN and AIRMoN measure ammonium in precipitation and the Clean Air Status and Trends Network (CASTNet) measures ammonium in aerosols, but gaseous ammonia is not measured routinely. NADP is evaluating the use of passive samplers to measure ammonia in a pilot network of 19 sites, most co-located with NTN and CASTNet sites. Triplicate bi-weekly samples are collected at each site. These data will be used to assess the accuracy of passive ammonia measurements, refine field and laboratory procedures, and evaluate the costs. With a year of data, the NADP Executive Committee will cosider the feasibility of adding passive ammonia measurements as a network option.