Project Summary:
This project will develop a new modeling approach for scaling point measurements of atmospheric deposition to whole landscapes. Such a model is necessary to understand the complex character of nutrient and pollutant inputs which occur over the scales of interest in the National Parks. Our fundamental hypothesis is that deposition of a variety of airborne constituents shows a predictable response to major landscape features which can be quantified in the field. These response functions can then be used to predict deposition patterns and relative rates of input of the chemicals of interest. We will quantify these response functions across the landscapes of two National Parks, chosen for their potential air pollutant impacts and terrain features that severely restrict where routine flux monitoring can be done.
The parks to be addressed are Acadia National Park in Maine and Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and North Carolina. Two primary methods will be employed to characterize the deposition/terrain response fields: sulfate fluxes in throughfall and lead in surface soils. These approaches have been shown to be excellent tracers of the primary deposition processes, and each addresses a time scale critical to the modeling approach (from seasons to decades). Once quantified, the response functions, which indicate the enhancement of deposition in areas of interest relative to routine monitoring locations, will be used with a GIS-based approach to scale up from the monitoring location to the entire landscape based on the spatial distribution of the primary controlling landscape features. The models will be tested against field data and existing databases. The modeling approach will be generic, allowing for application to other parks, and to a variety of airborne materials.
This project represents
a crucial step in atmospheric deposition research: the empirical modeling
approach proposed here offers the best means available to scale up atmospheric
deposition measurements in complex terrain. In addition, this research
is also extremely important for the management of ecosystems exposed
to atmospheric deposition. It will allow managers to address the utility
of the current atmospheric exposure monitoring for estimating atmospheric
deposition to sensitive ecosystems at 'far-flung' corners of the park.
Furthermore, in the face of limited budgets, it will allow Park Superintendents
to identify which portions of the parks are at greatest risk of air
pollution induced damage--which areas are "hotspots" of deposition--and
therefore might require the most intense research or remediation effort.
Finally, to the extent that this project will quantify deposition loads
to park landscapes, it will allow managers to evaluate the potential
effect of a proposed upwind pollution source. The GIS-based deposition
models developed in this research will be a valuable tool specifically
designed to help park scientists address these questions.
Correlating
predictive contaminant deposition maps with streamwater chemistry at
Acadia National Park (Abstract)
Atmospheric Deposition in Complex Terrain: Scaling Up to the Landscape
at ACAD and GRSM: Summary
and Figures
2001 PRIMENet Meeting Presentation: Atmospheric
Deposition to Complex Terrain: Scaling Up to the Landscape (K.C.
Weathers, G.M. Lovett, S.E. Lindberg, S.M. Simkin, D.N. Lewis, K. Schwarz)
Atmospheric
Deposition in Mountainous Terrain: Scaling up to the Landscape 2003:
Final Report
