Grand Tetons Reactive Nitrogen Deposition Study (GrandTReNDS)

Field Study & Data Analysis: K.B. Benedict1, E.J.T. Levin1, D. Day2, A.P. Sullivan1, Y. Li1, X. Chen1, T. Lee1, Y. Desyaterik1, M. Schurman1, S.M.

Kreidenweis1, J.L. Collett Jr. 1 Data Analysis & Source Apportionment: B.A. Schichtel3, T. Thomson, M.

Barna3, K. Gebhart3, W.C. Malm2

Planning: E. Porter, T. Blett, Sue O’Ney, Targhee personnel and others

1CSU Atmospheric Chemistry Department; 2CIRA; 3NPS

Sources of Reduced and Oxidized Gases

Vegetation; Wildfire Feedlots, Prescribed fires Organic N

Wild animals – Ecosystem respiration; Wildfire

Feedlots; Fertilizer; Mobile Waste water treatment; Fire

NH3 NH4

Soil Release; Lightning; Wildfire

Fossil-Fuel Combustion (power plants; mobile; oil and gas) Fertilizer, Prescribed fire

NO2 NO3 Naturally Occurring Anthropogenic Compound

Nitrogen Sources NH3 Emissions

GRTE could be influenced by: Agricultural to the west Urban (Jackson, Salt Lake) Oil and gas to the southeast Fires Natural sources, e.g. soil and vegetation

Fire CO Emissions

NO Emissions

Satellite View of NH3 and NO2

• Satellite view of ammonia hotspots (Clarisse et al. 2009). Note the high NH3 in the Snake River Valley and northern Utah

Satellite view of August 2006 NO2 hotspots (Duncan et al., 2010). NOx Urban areas and large power plants are visible.

NH3 NO2

Nitrogen Deposition near GRTE Yellowstone: 2008-2010 Pinedale: 2008-2010

• Of the species measured, wet deposition of NO3- and NH4

+ dominates throughout the year.

• Wet NH4+ > NO3

- at Yellowstone (North of Tetons) Wet NH4+ ~ NO3

- at Pinedale (Southeast)

• Dry NH3 and wet and dry organic N is missing

Wet Reduced vs. Oxidized, NADP • Over the last 25 years have

moved from an oxidized N to Reduced N dominated wet N

• At Pinedale and Yellowstone oxidized ~ reduced

• Sources of interest are moving from fossil fuel combustion to agriculture

Percent Contribution from Wet NH4

NOx and NH3 U.S. Emissions: 2006 verse 2050 Projection

• It is projected that the U.S. will shift from oxidized dominated to reduced dominated RN emissions by 2050

Raluca Ellis et al., 2012

GrandTReNDS Primary Objectives Characterize the atmospheric concentrations and deposition levels

of reactive nitrogen species in gaseous, particulate and aqueous phases on the east and west of Grand Teton

Identify the relative contributions to reactive nitrogen deposition in

GRTE from within the states of Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana versus

other states, from west: Snake River Valley and northern Utah; southeast:

Sublette County, Wyoming; and within GRTE. from source categories: agricultural, mobile, wild and

prescribed fires, and large and small point sources.

Craters of the Moon NADP, AMoN

Yellowstone: NADP, CASTNet

Pinedale: NADP, CASTNet

Gypsum Creek: NADP

Driggs (DR)

Grand Teton Reactive Nitrogen Deposition Study Region

Study Period: April- September 2011 High elevation sites: Late July-September 2011 Grand Targee Core Site: August-September 2011 NOAA Climate Center Core Sites: May – September 2011

Daily URG Daily HiVol Precipitation Met Station Passive NH3

Precipitation Passive NH3

Passive NH3

Passive NH3 (2 week and 4 week)

Grand Targhee Resort Daily URG Daily HiVol Precipitation Met Station Passive PILS Gas Rack Sizing Rack AMS Driggs Daily URG Precipitation Passive NH3 Met. Station

Selected Sites

Precipitation Collection Met Station

URG

AMS, PILS, Gas Rack, Sizing Rack, MOUDI

HiVol

Weekly NH3 Passive

Grand Targhee Driggs, ID (west)

GTNP East: NOAA Climate Center

Atmospheric Concentrations

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0 N

H3

(µg/

m3 )

Driggs

Lower Grand Targhee NOAA Climate Center Upper Grand Targhee

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

HN

O3

(µg/

m3 )

HNO3

0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0

NH

4+ (µ

g/m

3 ) NH4

+

0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0

1-A

pr

15-A

pr

29-A

pr

3-M

ay

27-M

ay

10-J

un

24-J

un

8-Ju

l

22-J

ul

5-A

ug

19-A

ug

2-Se

p

16-S

ep

30-S

ep

NO

3-

(µg/

m3 )

NO3-

NH3

West-to-east NH3 gradient

GTNP Site Comparison

• The relative importance of N deposition pathways depends on the amount of precipitation (DR v GT).

• Dry deposition of ammonia is important in GTNP.

Dry NH4 2%

Dry NO3 0%

Dry HNO3

6%

Dry NH3 54%

Wet ON 4%

Wet NH4 20%

Wet NO3 14%

Driggs: July 27 - Sept. 21

Dry NH4 2%

Dry NO3 0%

Dry HNO3

7%

Dry NH3 26%

Wet ON 16%

Wet NH4 31%

Wet NO3 18%

GT: July 27 - Sept. 21 Dry NH4 2%

Dry NO3 0%

Dry HNO3

6%

Dry NH3 28%

Wet ON 16%

Wet NH4 29%

Wet NO3 19%

NC: July 27- Sept. 21

Summer Reactive Nitrogen Deposition at Rocky Mtn and Grand Teton

• Only includes periods when particle organic nitrogen was measured • Missing gas phase organic nitrogen

RMNP GTNP Dry

NH4 2%

Dry NO3 1%

Dry HNO3

5%

Wet NO3 20%

Wet NH4 37%

Wet ON 17%

Dry ON 1%

Dry NH3 17%

Dry NH4 2%

Dry NO3 0%

Dry HNO3

7%

Wet NO3 19%

Wet NH4 32% Wet ON

11%

Dry ON 1%

Dry NH3 28%

GrandTReNDS

Ongoing NH3 Measurements Much higher concentrations in 2012

Chemical Transport Modeling: CAMx • PM source apportionment

tool (PSAT) • Tags emissions from defined

source regions and tracks their transport, deposition and transformation through the atmosphere and to the receptor sites

• ROMANS II – Rocky Mountain NP reactive nitrogen assessment, Nov 2008 – Nov ’09 • PSAT was run for 22 source regions including boundary conditions • Apportioned ambient ammonia

Grand Teton: Grand Targhee %

Con

tribu

tion

to

Ambi

ent A

mm

onia

Grand Teton: NOAA Climate Center %

Con

tribu

tion

to

Ambi

ent A

mm

onia

Future Source Apportionment Work • Two air quality modeling efforts are underway

• WestJump Air Quality Modeling Study • Three State data warehouse/modeling study

• Emission and Meteorological input fields for 2011 should be ready in 3-6 months

• These inputs will be used to generate reactive nitrogen source attribution estimates for the GrandTReNDS projects using both forward and hybrid receptor models.