Grantee Research Project Results
Nitrogen Deposition onto Aqueous Media: Quantative Diagnostics, Laboratory Measurements, and Model Development
EPA Grant Number: R823333Title: Nitrogen Deposition onto Aqueous Media: Quantative Diagnostics, Laboratory Measurements, and Model Development
Investigators: Miller, John Houston
Institution: George Washington University
EPA Project Officer: Packard, Benjamin H
Project Period: September 15, 1995 through September 14, 1998
Project Amount: $182,227
RFA: Exploratory Research - Chemistry and Physics of Water (1995) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Water , Land and Waste Management , Safer Chemicals
Description:
The deposition of nitrogen oxides from the atmosphere is expected to dramatically increase over the next 50 years and will have a profound effect on global tropospheric chemistry. In addition to acidification of terrestrial and marine ecosystems, this process is expected to lead to an increase in the quantity of tropospheric ozone and a decrease in the consumption rate of methane in forest soils. Unfortunately, there is little fundamental data available for the rate of the deposition of individual oxidized nitrogen species or adequate models to account for the chemical interconversion of these species at or near absorbate surfaces. This lack of information has prompted further investigation into the relative contributions of wet versus dry deposition. A clearer understanding of the fundamental processes involved in dry deposition will allow for more accurate determination of atmospheric deposition and prove vital to environmental policy decisions.With USEPA funds we are conducting a detailed study of nitrogen deposition which involves the development of laser-based diagnostics for the individual NOx species and laboratory measurements of their rates of dry deposition. A model is being developed to account for the data observed in these experiments which will include the interaction of mixing, diffusion, and chemistry during the deposition process.
It is anticipated that the models developed to explain our laboratory results will provide useful estimation tools for nitrogen deposition in the natural environment and thus will provide valuable and necessary input for the development of global climate models.
Publications and Presentations:
Publications have been submitted on this project: View all 9 publications for this projectJournal Articles:
Journal Articles have been submitted on this project: View all 1 journal articles for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
air, acid deposition, estuary, environmental chemistry, Chesapeake Bay., RFA, Scientific Discipline, Air, Water, Nutrients, Physics, Environmental Chemistry, Chemistry, Air Deposition, tropospheric ozone, Engineering, Chemistry, & Physics, aquatic ecosystem, aqueous impurities, quantitative models, nitrogen deposition, bioavailability, Chesapeak Bay, global warming calculations, ozone, laser based diagnostics, atmospheric nitrogen deposits, water quality, global climate models, ecosystem stress, troposphere, acid rain, atmospheric deposition, global tropospheric chemistryProgress and Final Reports:
The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.