Rocky Mountain snowpack chemistry network: History, methods, and the importance of monitoring mountain ecosystems
Ingersoll GP, Turk JT, Mast MA, Clow DW, Campbell DH, Bailey ZC. 2002. Rocky Mountain snowpack chemistry network: History, methods, and the importance of monitoring mountain ecosystems. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Open-File Report. 01-466. U.S. Geological Survey. Denver
Because regional-scale atmospheric deposition data in the Rocky Mountains are sparse, a program was designed by the U.S. Geological Survey to more thoroughly determine the quality of precipitation and to identify sources of atmospherically deposited pollution in a network of high-elevation sites. Depth-integrated samples of seasonal snowpacks at 52 sampling sites, in a network from New Mexico to Montana, were collected and analyzed each year since 1993. The results of the first 5 years (1993–97) of the program are discussed in this report. Spatial patterns in regional data have emerged from the geographically distributed chemical concentrations of ammonium, nitrate, and sulfate that clearly indicate that concentrations of these acid precursors in less developed areas of the region are lower than concentrations in the heavily developed areas. Snowpacks in northern Colorado that lie adjacent to both the highly developed Denver metropolitan area to the east and coal-fired powerplants to the west had the highest overall concentrations of nitrate and sulfate in the network. Ammonium concentrations were highest in northwestern Wyoming and southern Montana.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Ingersoll, George; Turk, John; Mast, M; Clow, David; Campbell, Donald; Bailey, Zelda
- Date of Issue
- 2002
- Publisher
- U.S. Geological Survey
- Units
- ARD , GLAC , GRTE , ROMN , ROMO
- Keywords
- ARD_Park-Air-Info_Collection, Atmospheric Deposition, Deposition, Nitrate, Nitrogen, Snowpack Chemistry, Sulfate, Sulfur