Rocky Mountain Snowpack Chemistry at Selected Sites for 2001

Because regional-scale atmospheric deposition data in the Rocky Mountains are sparse, a program was designed by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the National Park Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, and other agencies, to more thoroughly determine the chemical comp...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ingersoll, George P., Mast, M. A., Clow, David W., Nanus, Leora, Campbell, Donald H., Handran, Heather
Other Authors: DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR WASHINGTON DC
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: 2003
Subjects:
Meteorology
Physical Chemistry
Snow
Ice and Permafrost
*PRECIPITATION
*SNOW COVER
*CONTAMINANTS
*ROCKY MOUNTAINS
*CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
IONS
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
AMMONIUM COMPOUNDS
ALKALINITY
NITRATES
CONCENTRATION(CHEMISTRY)
SULFATES
GEOLOGICAL SURVEYS
CONCENTRATION(COMPOSITION)
MOUNTAINS
DISTRIBUTION
SITES
Ice
permafrost
Online Access:http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA440763
http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA440763
Description
Summary:Because regional-scale atmospheric deposition data in the Rocky Mountains are sparse, a program was designed by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the National Park Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, and other agencies, to more thoroughly determine the chemical composition of precipitation and to identify sources of atmospherically deposited contaminants in a network of high-elevation sites. Samples of seasonal snowpacks at 57 geographically distributed sites, in a regional network from New Mexico to Montana, were collected and analyzed for major ions (including ammonium, nitrate, and sulfate), alkalinity, and dissolved organic carbon during 2001. Sites selected in this report have been sampled annually since 1993, enabling identification of increases or decreases in chemical concentrations from year to year. Spatial patterns in snowpack-chemical data for concentrations of ammonium, nitrate, and sulfate indicate that concentrations of these acid precursors in less developed areas of the region are lower than concentrations in the heavily developed areas. Results for the 2001 snowpackchemistry analyses, however, indicate increases in concentrations of ammonium and nitrate in particular at sites where past concentrations typically were lower. Since 1993, concentrations of nitrate and sulfate were highest from snowpack samples in northern Colorado that were collected from sites adjacent to the Denver metropolitan area to the east and the coal-fired powerplants to the west. The original document contains color images.

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