SAES-422 Multistate Research Activity Accomplishments Report

Status: Approved

Basic Information

Participants

see minutes at http://nadp.sws.uiuc.edu/meetings/fall03/Tech2003fall.pdf.

Accomplishments

The NRSP-3 provides a framework for cooperation among State Agricultural Experiment
Stations (SAES) and governmental and nongovernmental organizations to support the National
Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP), which 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. NADP data support informed decisions on
air quality issues related to precipitation chemistry and are used by scientists, policy-makers,
educators, and the public. NRSP-3 activities address the ?environment, natural resources, and
landscape stewardship,? which is a national research priority of the state-federal (SAES-USDA)
partnership.


The NADP operates three precipitation chemistry networks: the National Trends Network
(NTN), the Atmospheric Integrated Research Monitoring Network (AIRMoN), and the Mercury
Deposition Network (MDN). At the end of December 2003, 256 NTN stations were collecting
one-week precipitation samples in 49 states, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Quebec
Province, Canada. The NTN provides the only long-term nationwide record of wet deposition in
the United States. Complementing the NTN are the 9-site AIRMoN and the 82-site MDN. Data
from daily precipitation samples collected at AIRMoN sites support continued research of
atmospheric transport and removal of air pollutants and development of computer simulations of
these processes. The MDN offers the only regional measurements of mercury in North American
precipitation, and MDN data are used to quantify mercury deposition to water bodies that have
fish and wildlife consumption advisories due to this toxic chemical. In 2003, 43 states listed
advisories warning people to limit game fish consumption due to high mercury levels. Advisories
also were issued for coastal Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, the Atlantic Coast from the
Virginia-North Carolina border to the southern tip of Florida, and the entire U.S. Gulf Coast.


NADP Internet Site. NADP data are available via the Internet, which enables on-line retrieval of
individual data points, seasonal and annual averages, trend plots, concentration and deposition
maps, reports, manuals, and other data and information (http://nadp.sws.uiuc.edu). The number
of Internet site users, data files accessed, and maps viewed continued to increase. In 2003 the site
received 53,823 unique visitors and nearly 1.4 million hits, up more than five-fold since 1998,
when user statistics were first recorded. User sessions rose to 159,731 and users downloaded
18,398 data files. Certainly the most frequently viewed data products on the site continue to be
the color-contour concentration and deposition maps, which appear in scientific journals,
textbooks, and newspaper articles. In August, a ?NetWatch? article in Science magazine featured
the 2001 pH map and described the database and some of the on-line reports and products
available from the NADP.


Educational/Extension Activities.
In 2003, the NADP Program Office participated in the
University of Illinois Extension Service program, Environmental Stewardship Week, designed to
engage elementary school students in hands-on learning activities in the environmental sciences.
Staff members led a learning activity entitled ?pH and Precipitation? that focused on air
pollution, acid rain, and water quality. Students measured the pH of selected household
chemicals, water from a central Illinois lake, and rain samples from NTN sites across the country.
Approximately 100 5th and 6th grade students participated in the activity.


Supporting informed decisions on air quality issues. In its most recent progress report, ?Acid
Rain Program, 2002 Progress Report,? the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)
described the National Atmospheric Deposition Program as one of two long-term national
monitoring networks with data that scientists and policy-makers routinely use to evaluate the
impact of emissions reductions on the environment. In the report, the USEPA used NTN data to
compare average 2000-2002 sulfate deposition with average 1989-1991 sulfate deposition. This
comparison showed sulfate deposition decreases of about 35 percent to 55 percent in Midwestern
and Northeastern states since 1990. In the Northeastern United States, a nearly one-for-one
decrease in sulfate concentrations in precipitation and sulfur dioxide emissions was noted. These
decreases were cited as evidence that sulfur dioxide emissions reductions under the 1990 Clean
Air Act Amendments (CAAA-1990) have led to reductions in acidic deposition. A similar
comparison with NTN nitrate data showed deposition decreases in the Northeast and Michigan,
though nitrate concentrations remained virtually unchanged.


In a related report, ?Response of Surface Water Chemistry to the Clean Air Act Amendments of
1990,? the USEPA examined the response of eastern U.S. lakes and streams to the sulfur dioxide
and nitrogen oxide emissions reductions that occurred under the CAAA-1990. The authors used
NTN data to quantify sulfate, nitrate, and base cation deposition trends. These trends were
compared with changes in the acid-base chemistry of surface waters. Except for the Ridge and
Blue Ridge Province in the central and southern Appalachian Mountains, sulfate deposition
decreases were accompanied by sulfate concentration decreases in lakes and streams. Nitrate
changes were small and generally insignificant in precipitation and in surface waters. In
precipitation, base cation concentrations changed little, although in surface waters a 20-year base
cation decline has continued. Concomitant decreases in sulfate and base cation concentrations
has resulted in only small improvements in surface water acidity.


These 2003 reports point to the increasingly important role of NADP data in assessing the
relationships among emissions, air quality, precipitation chemistry, and wet deposition effects on
aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Long-term high-quality data from the network of
geographically representative NADP sites has become an invaluable resource for policy-relevant
assessments. The current administration has introduced new clean air legislation, the Clear Skies
Act, which would expand the cap-and-trade program to three pollutants, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen
oxides, and mercury. Proponents of this legislation cite the cost-effectiveness of the current
program and its demonstrated success in reducing acid deposition, as monitored by the
NADP/NTN.



Plans for 2004/2005
  • Serving science and education. The NRSP-3 seeks to continue to support the needs of
    researchers and educators by providing up-to-date quality-assured data and information on
    nutrients, acidic compounds, base cations, and mercury in precipitation. Experience has
    demonstrated the value of the Internet in making NADP data available to scientists, educators,
    students, and policy-makers. New on-line data presentations will be developed, including
    isopleth map animations that track annual concentration and deposition changes of cations and
    anions not now included in the map animation series. Site plan views that display the locations of
    NADP instruments and instruments of related measurement programs will be posted with other
    site information. An informational brochure on mercury, currently in draft form, will be
    completed and published.
  • Supporting informed decisions on air quality issues. Scientists and policy-makers have a
    keen interest in the atmospheric deposition of nutrients and the role of nutrient deposition in
    affecting unmanaged forests, shrublands, and grasslands and in affecting surface water quality,
    especially in the estuarine waters of the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. The NADP Central Analytical
    Laboratory is measuring total nitrogen and total phosphorus in precipitation samples to explore
    the feasibility of adding these analytes to the current measurement set. In addition, the NADP
    Environmental Effects Subcommittee is considering other measurements that would address
    policy-related issues. Among the measurements under consideration is gaseous ammonia and
    total mercury.
  • Responding to emerging issues. The NADP Program Office is communicating with potential
    collaborators interested in evaluating the use of NADP samples for early detection of windborne
    plant pathogens. These pathogens can infect agricultural crops and forests. Atmospheric
    transport and deposition can be an important mechanism for the dispersal of plant pathogens and
    for the exposure of plants to pathogens from distant infected areas. Environmental monitoring
    networks, such as the three NADP networks, could play a potentially important role in a
    surveillance system for the detection and spread of pathogens, whether domestic and foreign in
    origin. The NADP is uniquely suited to address this issue with its 250 to 300 sites across the
    United States.

Impacts

  1. Syracuse University and Adirondack Lakes Survey scientists investigated the response of Adirondack lakes to the 20-year decline in sulfate deposition measured at northeastern NADP/NTN sites and found that sulfate has decreased in virtually all Adirondack lakes, while only a small number of lakes have become less acidic.
  2. Using O2 isotope measurements from NADP/NTN samples and from soil water, tree and leaf tissue, and airborne CO2, researchers discovered that 80 percent of the respired CO2 in a central Oregon forest comes from the soil and 20 percent from plants and that the isotopic composition of rain has an important influence on the isotopic composition of soil water.
  3. According to a Tennessee Valley Authority report, peaks in the Great Smoky Mountains receive some of the highest nitrogen and sulfur deposition in the United States, based on NADP/NTN data; and these high-deposition levels may have long-term detrimental impacts on the health of these forests.
  4. NOAA scientists used NADP/NTN ammonium concentration measurements as the basis for evaluating the current ammonia emissions inventory for the eastern United States and concluded that emissions estimates may be as much as 20 percent too high.
  5. To assess the impact of human activities on nutrients in surface waters, USGS scientists used NADP/NTN nitrogen deposition data, watershed size and runoff, physiography, climate, and vegetative cover in an empirical model which estimates that current nitrogen concentrations in streams and rivers are about 6 times higher than background levels.
  6. A team of scientists used NADP/NTN nitrogen deposition data in examining the biogeochemical cycling of nitrate in southwestern U.S. desert soils and discovered a large reservoir of previously overlooked nitrogen that raises global estimates of subsoil nitrogen in warm deserts and shrublands by 14 to 71 percent.
  7. In a review of nitrogen emissions, deposition, and monitoring in the West, scientists used NADP/NTN data to describe the spatial distribution, deposition rates, and trends of ammonium and nitrate in precipitation at background locations in eleven western states.
  8. Investigators tracked polluted air masses across the Pacific Ocean from Asia until they encountered the northwestern United States, where at the Hoh River NADP/NTN site they found nitrogen and sulfur deposition that was approximately twice the long-term mean, linking the dirty Asian air mass to dirty U.S. rain.
  9. With support from the Electric Power Research Institute, a team of atmospheric modelers used NADP/MDN data to develop and evaluate a global- and nested continental-scale mercury transport model that simulates the sources and deposition rates of mercury deposited in the contiguous United States.
  10. Penn State University scientists analyzed a 9-year precipitation chemistry record from the NADP/AIRMoN site in central Pennsylvania and found significant relationships between summertime weather patterns and acidity and sulfate in rain.
  11. A University of Iowa statistician applied a Bayesian geostatistical model to evaluate NADP/NTN, NADP/AIRMoN, and Canadian network data and concluded that there was no difference between NTN and AIRMoN ammonium measurements, but that Canadian ammonium measurements were systematically higher than either of the NADP networks.

Publications

There were more than 220 publications, including 61 journal articles and a Master of Science
thesis, using NADP data or resulting from NRSP-3 activities in 2003. An on-line database that
lists citations using NADP data is now accessible at http://nadp.sws.uiuc.edu/lib/bibsearch.asp.

NADP PROGRAM OFFICE PUBLICATIONS

Lehmann, C.M.B. and V.C. Bowersox. 2003. National Atmospheric Deposition Program Quality
Management Plan. NADP QA Plan 2003-01. NADP Program Office, Champaign, IL. 104 pp.


National Atmospheric Deposition Program. 2003. NADP 2003 - Long-Term Monitoring:
Supporting Science and Informing Policy and Ammonia Workshop. (prepared by Douglas, K.E. and P.S. Bedient) NADP Proceedings 2003-01, October 20-24, 2003, Washington, D.C. NADP
Program Office, Champaign, IL. 176 pp.

National Atmospheric Deposition Program. 2003. National Atmospheric Deposition Program
2002 Annual Summary. NADP Data Report 2003-01. NADP Program Office, Champaign, IL. 16
pp.


National Atmospheric Deposition Program. 2003. Quality Assurance Report, National
Atmospheric Deposition Program, 2001, Laboratory Operations, Central Analytical Laboratory.
(prepared by J.E. Rothert) NADP QA Report 2003-01, NADP Program Office, Champaign, IL.
206 pp.


National Atmospheric Deposition Program. 2003. 2004 CALendar. NADP Program Office,
Champaign, IL. 30 pp.


SELECTED JOURNAL ARTICLES

Aber, J.D., C.L. Goodale, S.V. Ollinger, ?L. Smith, A.H. Magill, M.E. Martin, R.A. Hallett, and
J.L. Stoddard. 2003. Is Nitrogen Deposition Altering the Nitrogen Status of Northeastern
Forests? BioScience. 53(4):375-389.


Burns, D.A. 2003. Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and
Southern Wyoming - a Review and New Analysis of Past Study Results. Atmospheric
Environment. 37:921-932.


Butler, T.J., G.E. Likens, F.M. Vermeylen, and B.B. Stunder. 2003. The Relation Between NOx
Emissions and Precipitation NO3
- in the Eastern USA. Atmospheric Environment. 37: 2093-
2104.


Castro, M.S., C.T. Driscoll, T.E. Jordan, W.G. Reay, and W.R. Boynton. 2003. Sources of
Nitrogen to Estuaries in the United States. Estuaries 26(3):803-814.


Clow, D.W., J.O. Sickman, R.G. Striegl, D.P. Krabbenhoft, J.G. Elliot, M. Dornblaster, D.A. Roth, and D.H. Campbell. 2003. Changes in the Chemistry of Lakes and Precipitation in High-
Elevation National Parks in the Western United States, 1985-1999. Water Resources Research. 39(6), 1171, doi:10.1029/2002WR001533.


Dayan, U. and D. Lamb. 2003. Meteorological Indicators of Summer Precipitation Chemistry in
Central Pennsylvania. Atmospheric Environment. 37:1045-1055.


Driscoll, C.T., K.M. Driscoll, K.M. Roy, and M.J. Mitchell. 2003. Chemical Response of Lakes
in the Adirondack Region of New York to Declines in Acidic Deposition. Environmental Science
& Technology. 37:2036-2042.


Driscoll, C.T., D. Whitall, J. Aber, E. Boyer, M. Castro, C. Cronan, C. Goodale, P. Groffman, C. Hopkinson, K. Lambert, G. Lawrence, and S. Ollinger. 2003. Nitrogen Pollution: Sources and
Consequences in the U.S. Northeast. Environment. 45: 8-22.


Fenn, M.E., J.S. Baron, E.B. Allen, H.M. Rueth, K.R.Nydick, L. Geiser, W.D. Bowman, J.O.
Sickman, T. Meixner, D.W.Johnson, and P. Neitlich. 2003. Ecological Effects of Nitrogen
Deposition in the Western United States. BioScience. 53(4):404-420.


Fenn, M.E., R. Haeuber, G.S. Tonnesen, J.S. Baron, S. Grossman-Clarke, D. Hope, D.A. Jaffe, S. Copeland, L. Geiser, H.M. Rueth, and J.O. Sickman. 2003. Nitrogen Emissions, Deposition, and
Monitoring in the Western United States. BioScience. 53(4):391-403.


Fernandez,I.J., L.E. Rustad, S.A. Norton, J.S. Kahl, and B.J. Cosby. 2003. Experimental
Acidification Causes Soil Base Cation Depletion in a New England Forested Watershed. Soil
Science Society of America Journal. 67(6): 1909-1919.


Galloway, J.N., J.D. Aber, J.W. Erisman, S.P. Seitzinger, R.W. Howarth, E.B. Cowling, and J.
Cosby. 2003. The Nitrogen Cascade. BioScience. 53(4):341-356.


Gilliland, A.B., R.L. Dennis, S.J. Roselle, and T.E. Pierce. 2003. Seasonal NH3 Emission
Estimates for the Eastern United States Based on Ammonium Wet Concentrations and an Inverse
Modeling Method. Journal of Geophysical Research. 108(D15):4477,
doi10.1029/2002JD003063, 2003.


Hidy, G.M. 2003. Snowpack and Precipitation Chemistry at High Altitudes. Atmospheric
Environment. 37:1231-1242.


Kester, C.L., J.S. Baron, and J.T. Turk. 2003. Isotopic Study of Sulfate Sources and Residence
Times in a Subalpine Watershed. Environmental Geology. 43: 606-613..


Lafrancois, B.M., K.R. Nydick, and B. Caruso. 2003. Influence of Nitrogen on Phytoplankton
Biomass and Community Composition in Fifteen Snowy Range Lakes (Wyoming, U.S.A.). Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research. 35(4): 499-508.


Mitchell, M.J., C.T. Driscoll, S. Inamdar, G.G. McGee, M.O. Mbila, and D.J. Raynal. 2003. Nitrogen Biogeochemistry in the Adirondack Mountains of New York: Hardwood Ecosystems
and Associated Surface Waters. Environmental Pollution. 123: 355-364.


Nanus, L., D.H. Campbell, G.P. Ingersoll, D.W. Clow, and M.A. Mast. 2003. Atmospheric
Deposition Maps for the Rocky Mountains. Atmospheric Environment. 37: 4881-4892.


Pelley, J. 2003. Adirondack Lakes Recovering from Acid Rain. Environmental Science &
Technology. June 1, 2003:202A- 203A.


Raloff, J. 2003. Why the Mercury Falls. Science News.163: 72-74.
Rueth, H.M., J.S. Baron, and E.J. Allstodt. 2003. Responses of Old-Growth Engelmann Spruce
Forests to Nitrogen Fertilization. Ecological Applications. 13: 664-673.


Saros, J.E., S.J. Interlandi, A.P. Wolfe, and D.R. Engstrom. 2003. Recent Changes in the Diatom
Community Structure of Lakes in the Beartooth Mountain Range, U.S.A. Arctic, Antarctic, and
Alpine Research. 35: 18-23.


Seigneur, C., P. Karamchandani, K. Vijayaraghavan, K. Lohman, R. Shia, and L. Levin. 2003.
On the Effect of Spatial Resolution on Atmospheric Mercury Modeling. Science of the Total
Environment. 304:73-81.


Seigneur, C., K. Vijayaraghavan, K. Lohman, P. Karamchandani, and C. Scott. 2003. Global
Source Attribution for Mercury Deposition in the United States. Environmental Science
&Technology. 38:555-569.


Sickles, J.E. II, and J.W. Grimm. 2003. Wet Deposition from Clouds and Precipitation in Three
High-Elevation Regions of the Eastern United States. Atmospheric Environment. 37:277-288.


Sickman, J.O., A.L. Leydecker, C.C.Y. Chang, C. Kendall, J.M. Melack, D.M. Lucero, and J.
Schimel. 2003. Mechanisms Underlying Export of N from High-Elevation Catchments During
Seasonal Transitions. Biogeochemistry. 64: 1-24.


Sickman, J.O., J.M. Melack, and D.W. Clow. 2003. Evidence for Nutrient Enrichment of High-
Elevation Lakes in the Sierra Nevada, California. Limnology and Oceanography. 48(5): 1885-
1892.


Smith, R.A., R.B. Alexander, and G.E. Schwartz. 2003. Natural Background Concentrations of
Nutrients in Streams and Rivers of the Conterminous United States. Environmental Science &
Technology. 37:3039-3047.


Walvoord, M.A., F.M. Phillips, D.A. Stonestrom, R.D. Evans, P.C. Hartsough, B.D. Newman,
and R.G. Striegl. 2003. A Reservoir of Nitrate Beneath Desert Soils. Science. 302:1021-1024 and
S1-S7.


Wolfe, A.P., A.C. Van Gorp, and J.S. Baron. 2003. Recent Ecological and Biogeochemical
Changes in Alpine Lakes of Rocky Mountain National Park (Colorado, U.S.A.): a Response to
Anthropogenic Nitrogen Deposition. Geobiology. 1: 153-168.


Zhang, Q. and C. Anastasio. 2003. Conversion of Fogwater and Aerosol Organic Nitrogen to
Ammonium, Nitrate, and NOx During Exposure to Simulated Sunlight and Ozone.
Environmental Science and Technology. 37: 3522-3530.


OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Bowersox, V.C., 2003: ?Sources and Receptors: Monitoring the Data,? In: Acid Rain: Are the
Problems Solved? American Fisheries Society Trends in Fisheries and Management 2, Bethesda,
MD. pp. 47-57.


Driscoll, C.T., D. Whitall, J. Aber, E. Boyer, M. Castro, C. Cronan, C.L. Goodale, P. Groffman,
C. Hopkinson, K. Lambert, G. Lawrence, and S. Ollinger. 2003. Nitrogen Pollution: From the
Sources to the Sea. Hubbard Brook Research Foundation. Science LinksTM Publication. Vol. 1,
no.2. 24 pp.


Gordon, J.D. 2003. Evaluation of Candidate Rain Gages for Upgrading Precipitation
Measurement Tools for the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (Water-Resources
Investigations Report 02-4302). U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, CO. 34 pp.


Larson, R.S. 2003. A Method for Classifying and Characterizing Wet Deposition Monitoring
Sites (paper #69777). In Proceedings 96th Annual Air & Waste Management Association
Meeting. Air and Waste Management Association, Sewickley, PA. 10 pp.


Lehmann, C.M.B. 2003. Quality Assurance in the National Atmospheric Deposition Program for
Support of Atmospheric Trends Research (paper #69956). In Proceedings 96th Annual Air &
Waste Management Association Meeting. Air and Waste Management Association, Sewickley,
PA. 18 pp.


Stoddard, J.L., J.S. Kahl, F.A. Deviney, D.R. DeWalle, C.T. Driscoll, A.T. Herlihy, J.H. Kellogg,
P.S. Murdoch, J.R. Webb, and K.E. Webster. 2003. Response of Surface Water Chemistry to the
Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (EPA 620/R-03/001). U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC. 84 pp.


Tumbusch, M.L. 2003. Evaluation of OTT PLUVIO Precipitation Gage Versus Belfort Universal
Precipitation Gage 5-780 for the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (Water-Resources
Investigations Report 03-4167). U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, CO. 29 pp.


U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2003. Acid Rain Program, 2002 Progress Report (EPA-
430-R-03-011). Office of Air and Radiation, Clean Air Markets Division, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency. 16 pp.
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