Atmospheric Modeling to Refine Lichen-based Critical Loads for the North American Marine West Coast Forests Ecological Region
Project ID: J8W07090010
Federal Agency: National Park Service
Partner Institution: Washington State University
Fiscal Year: 2009
Initial Funding: $8,140
Total Funding: $8,140
Project Type: Technical Assistance
Project Disciplines: Physical
National Park: Pacific West Region
Principal Investigator: Vaughan, Joseph
Agreement Technical Representative: Blett, Tamara
Abstract: This project is part of a larger effort (with National Park Service (NPS) and Forest Service (FS) cooperators) to produce refined, scientifically credible critical loads for nitrogen deposition in the Oregon and Washington portion of the North American Marine west coast forest ecological region. The critical loads will be based on lichen response to nitrogen deposition. Fine-scale atmospheric modeling (12km) is needed to estimate atmospheric deposition of nitrogen at plots where lichen samples have been collected. Deposition simulation results will be extracted from runs of the AIRPACT-3 system operated by Washington State University (WSU), utilizing the Community Model for Air Quality (CMAQ), driven by results from the WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting) model operated by the University of Washington. The period of simulation for which nitrogen deposition will be extracted is July 2007 through July 2008. WSU will analyze the CMAQ deposition results for this period to extract wet and dry deposited nitrogen species, and to compute cumulative values for those species matched to monitors exposed by other project participants at the sites and for the specific period. These results will be provided to other project participants for comparisons with their monitoring results. The analyses of the CMAQ results in conjunction with the monitoring results should provide important feedback on the adequacy of the AIRPACT-3 modeling system for nitrogen critical loads assessment. These analyses could stimulate work to add fog and ice deposition mechanisms into the CMAQ model, leading to a fuller model treatment of deposition. Collectively, these results may be relevant to the Pacific Northwest and for the Cascades and Olympics ecosystems, both for nitrogen critical loads assessment and other deposited species, such as sulfur and mercury.
Deliverables: