airborne contaminants klondike gold rush nhp, glacier bay np&p, sitka nhp

Airborne ContaminantsKlondike Gold Rush NHP, Glacier Bay NP&P, Sitka NHP

Glacier Bay and Chichagof Island:dust and smoke from fires in Eurasia

Southeast Alaska NetworkInventory and Monitoring Program 3 Year Review – March 2012

Skagway Harbor & cruise ship haze

JustificationAirborne Contaminants

• Affects Ecosystems & Visitor Experience

• Partnership with other Agencies and Allows Inferences at a Regional Scale

• Impacts Increasing with Global Industrial Expansion & Population Growth & Possibly Climate Change

Southeast Alaska NetworkInventory and Monitoring Program 3 Year Review – March 2012

Justification• All SEAN Park are Potential Receptors of:

Airborne Contaminants – Common to all SEAN parks

• Cruise ship emissions and other marine transportation

Southeast Alaska NetworkInventory and Monitoring Program 3 Year Review – March 2012

Justification• All AK Parks are Potential Targets of:

• Industrial emissions from Eurasia such as smelters, coal fired generators

Airborne Contaminants – Common to all SEAN parks

Southeast Alaska NetworkInventory and Monitoring Program 3 Year Review – March 2012

JustificationAirborne Contaminants - ecosystems and visitor experience

Western Airborne Contaminants Assessment Program • Provided reference data

• Provided inspiration and expertise

• Demonstrated contaminant are a potentially serious threat to Alaskan ecosystems, and subsistence resources

• Demonstrated bioaccumulation in fish Landers, D. H. et al. 2008. The fate, transport, and ecological impacts of airborne contaminants in western national parks (USA). EPA/600/R-07/138, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory (NHEERL), Western Ecology Division. Covallis OR., Corvallis, OR.

Southeast Alaska NetworkInventory and Monitoring Program 3 Year Review – March 2012

Monitoring Objectives

• Determine functional methods for monitoring decadal trends in select airborne contaminants at remote sites;

• Model relationship between contaminant in lichen tissue, atmospheric concentrations, and deposition rates;

• Assess lichen community response to changes in airborne contaminants (and or other factors).

Airborne Contaminants – Protocol development

Southeast Alaska NetworkInventory and Monitoring Program 3 Year Review – March 2012

Question:Are these currently the most relevant objectives?

Monitoring Approach & Preliminary ResultsAirborne Contaminants

Passive Ambient Atmospheric Samplers

Southeast Alaska NetworkInventory and Monitoring Program 3 Year Review – March 2012

Gaseous:HNO3, SO2, NO2, NOx, NH4

Monitoring Approach & Preliminary ResultsAirborne Contaminants

Passive Ambient Atmospheric Samplers

Weekly Ambient SO2 Concentrations May-Sept

2008

2009

Southeast Alaska NetworkInventory and Monitoring Program 3 Year Review – March 2012

Monitoring Approach & Preliminary ResultsAirborne Contaminants

Passive Ambient Atmospheric Samplers

Weekly Ambient NOx Concentrations May-Sept

2009

2008

Southeast Alaska NetworkInventory and Monitoring Program 3 Year Review – March 2012

Monitoring Approach & Preliminary ResultsAirborne Contaminants

Passive Ambient Atmospheric Samplers

Weekly Ambient NH3 & HNO3 Concentrations

Southeast Alaska NetworkInventory and Monitoring Program 3 Year Review – March 2012

NH3HNO3

2009 data

Monitoring Approach & Preliminary ResultsAirborne Contaminants

Passive Wet Deposition Samplers

Open Canopy Throughfall

Southeast Alaska NetworkInventory and Monitoring Program 3 Year Review – March 2012

Monitoring Approach & Preliminary ResultsAirborne Contaminants

Passive Wet Deposition Samplers

Open vs Closed Canopy sites

Southeast Alaska NetworkInventory and Monitoring Program 3 Year Review – March 2012

Monitoring Approach & Preliminary ResultsAirborne Contaminants

Passive Wet Deposition SamplersOpen vs Closed Canopy sites

Juneau NADP Network Site

Southeast Alaska NetworkInventory and Monitoring Program 3 Year Review – March 2012

Monitoring Approach & Preliminary ResultsAirborne Contaminants

Passive Wet Deposition SamplersOpen

sites

Southeast Alaska NetworkInventory and Monitoring Program 3 Year Review – March 2012

Monitoring Approach - lichensAirborne Contaminants

• Depend on nutrients from the air and rainfall;

• A dynamic equilibrium exists between atmospheric chemicals

and lichen tissue;• Long history of use as bio

indicators;• Species differentially sensitivity

to pollutants;• Allows a regional picture of air

pollution deposition patterns.Southeast Alaska Network

Inventory and Monitoring Program 3 Year Review – March 2012

Rationale for SelectionAirborne Contaminants

Partnership with the Tongass National Forest Allows Analysis & Inferences at a Regional Scale

S. Baranof

EndicottRiver

Tracy Arm/Fords Terror

Kootznoowoo

Greens Ck

Mt RobertsPleasant Island

Kuiu

Tebenkof

CoronationWarren Karta

River

Stikine-LeContePetersburg Ck

S. Etolin

South Prince of Wales

Misty Fiords

Chuck River

W. ChichagofYakobi

Pacific Ocean

British ColumbiaCanada

Russell Fiords

±

0 10 205 Miles

LegendTongass wilderness

Tongass other

lichen air plots 1989-2005

125 permanent plotsSoutheast Alaska Network

Inventory and Monitoring Program 3 Year Review – March 2012

Monitoring ApproachHow are concentrations of contaminants in the air changing on a

decadal cycle?

• Metrics include elemental concentration for P, K, Ca, Mg, Na, Al, Fe, Mn, Hg, Cu, B, Pb, Ni, Cr, Cd, Co, Mo, Si, Ti, Be, Sr, Rb, Li, V, Ba, total nitrogen and total sulfur.

Airborne Contaminants

Southeast Alaska NetworkInventory and Monitoring Program 3 Year Review – March 2012

Monitoring Approach & Preliminary Results

Lichen collection plots conducted in KLGO in 1998 were revisited in 2008-09.

Airborne Contaminants – lichen elemental concentrations

How are elemental concentrations in lichen tissue changing?

Southeast Alaska NetworkInventory and Monitoring Program 3 Year Review – March 2012

Monitoring Approach & Preliminary Results

Lichen collection plots conducted in KLGO in 1998 were revisited in 2008-09.

Airborne Contaminants – lichen elemental concentrations

How are elemental concentrations in lichen tissue changing?

Southeast Alaska NetworkInventory and Monitoring Program 3 Year Review – March 2012

Monitoring Approach & Preliminary ResultsSpatial Comparisons

Airborne Contaminants – lichen elemental concentrations

Southeast Alaska NetworkInventory and Monitoring Program 3 Year Review – March 2012

Airborne Contaminants – Mercury DepositionMonitoring Approach - MercuryEventually map the distribution of Hg deposition for AlaskaNational Mercury Deposition

NetworkGLBA and GAAR

Bartlett Cove - GLBA Bettles - GAAR

Southeast Alaska NetworkInventory and Monitoring Program 3 Year Review – March 2012

Investigate Regional Variation in Hg Deposition

Airborne Contaminants – Mercury DepositionMonitoring Approach - Mercury

Southeast Alaska NetworkInventory and Monitoring Program 3 Year Review – March 2012

Monitoring Approach - MercuryMercury add to suite of analytes in 2008-

09.

Airborne Contaminants – lichen elemental concentrations

Southeast Alaska NetworkInventory and Monitoring Program 3 Year Review – March 2012

Acknowledgments

Linda Geiser - USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research StationMark Fenn - USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research StationAndrjez Bytnerowicz - USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research StationKaren Dillman - Tongass National ForestSarah Jovan - USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research StationRick Graw - USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research StationAlbert Faure - Alaska Dept of Environmental ConservationTamara Blett – National Park Service Air Resource DivisionEllen Porter - National Park Service Air Resource DivisionHeather Root – Oregon State UniversityBrendan Moynahan – National Park Service, Southeast Alaska I&M Program Scott Gende - National Park Service, Southeast Alaska Coastal ClusterLewis Sharman – Glacier Bay NP&PAndrea Blakesley – Denali NP&P

Southeast Alaska NetworkInventory and Monitoring Program 3 Year Review – March 2012

Southeast Alaska NetworkInventory and Monitoring Program 3 Year Review – March 2012

Dave Schirokauerdave_schirokauer@nps.gov