HR: 1340h
AN: B13B-0219    [Abstracts]
TI: Quantifying Atmospheric N Sources in Major Watersheds of New York State
AU: * Golden, H E
EM: hegolden@syr.edu
AF: State University of New York, College of Environmental Science & Forestry, 218 Marshall Hall, 1 Forestry Drive, Syracuse, NY 13210 United States
AU: Boyer, E W
EM: ewboyer@syr.edu
AF: University of California, Berkeley, Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, Berkeley, CA 94720 United States
AU: Elliott, E
EM: eelliott@usgs.gov
AF: U.S. Geological Survey , 345 Middlefield Road, MS 434, Menlo Park, CA 94025 United States
AU: Kendall, C
EM: ckendall@usgs.gov
AF: U.S. Geological Survey , 345 Middlefield Road, MS 434, Menlo Park, CA 94025 United States
AU: Burns, D A
EM: daburns@usgs.gov
AF: U.S. Geological Survey, Water Resources Section 425 Jordan Road, Troy, NY 12180
AU: Butler, T J
EM: tjb2@cornell.edu
AF: Cornell University, Rice Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853 United States
AB: Human activities have considerably altered nitrogen cycling in the environment, increasing reactive nitrogen (N) inputs to terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. In the northeastern USA, this enhanced supply of N has been linked to many environmental concerns such as eutrophication, violations of drinking water standards, and forest health decline. Our work concentrates on atmospheric N inputs to ecosystems throughout New York state, which experiences among the highest rates of atmospheric N deposition in the nation. We've focused on a set of measurements at Connecticut Hill, which participates in several national atmospheric deposition monitoring networks (National Atmospheric Deposition Program, Clean Air Status and Trends Network, and the Atmospheric Integrated Research Monitoring Network). There we've co-located a network of 30 passive collectors for sampling multiple N species in dry deposition (HNO$_{3}$, NO$_{2}$, NH$_{3}$). Our preliminary data allow us to address questions of: 1) within-site spatial variability; 2) deployment times and temporal averaging with regard to the frequency of sample collection; 3) how passive sampler concentrations compare to the suite of constituents measured by the national network instrumentation; 4) how local meteorological conditions influence concentrations; and 5) whether the isotopic composition of nitrate-N ($\delta^{18}$O and $\delta^{15}$N) in passively sampled dry deposition can be used to understand the relative contributions of different sources of atmospheric N. Further, we are quantifying sources of N fluxes in surface waters. We make use of a variety of isotopic and chemical tracers in stream water samples to distinguish among atmospheric and other (e.g., fertilizer or wastewater) sources. Our collaborative study aims to characterize atmospheric N sources, which is necessary to develop sound strategies for understanding and managing the effects of these and other N inputs.
DE: 1806 Chemistry of fresh water
DE: 1615 Biogeochemical processes (4805)
DE: 0315 Biosphere/atmosphere interactions
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting