PROGRAM DESCRIPTION |
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| In September 1996 the National
Park Service (NPS) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signed
an interagency agreement to cooperate on a program of long-term monitoring
of environmental stressors in park units and research on the effects of
those stresses on ecosystems. Fourteen parks are included in PRIMENet.
These parks are representative of major ecosystem types and were chosen
because of their status of Class 1 air quality parks. The University of
Georgia is the contractor responsible for UV-B site operations.
At these sites the NPS is sponsoring air quality monitoring, including ozone, wet and dry deposition, visibility, and meteorology. The EPA has added UV-B monitoring at these parks to determine changes in irradiance that may be affecting human health and ecosystem processes. The two major contributors to this long-term research and monitoring program are the National Park Service, Natural Resource Program Center and the Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development. At PRIMENet sites we are cooperating with researchers from other organizations, including the US Geological Survey (USGS), the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and universities, to conduct the effects research needed to tie atmospheric stressors with ecosystem responses. We are also working with NOAA and USDA to develop QA methods and carry out UV instrument comparisons. A "Fact Sheet" that summarizes the UV program is available. For more National Park Service Natural Resource Publications link to: http://www1.nature.nps.gov/NRPubs/. For literature related to Ultra Violet Radiation click
here to view UV bibliography |
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