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PROJECT Index
Rocky Mountain Regional Snowpack Chemistry Monitoring Study Area: High-elevation sites near the Continental Divide in Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico
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Rocky Mountain Regional Snowpack Chemistry Monitoring Study Area: High-elevation sites near the Continental Divide in Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico
Study Area: Continental Divide in Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado,
and New Mexico
Period of Project: 1991 to present
Project Number: CO53100
Project Chief: George Ingersoll
Cooperator: National Park Service; U.S.D.A. Forest Service
BACKGROUND:
Snowpacks collect atmospheric deposition throughout the snowfall season
and offer a unique opportunity to obtain a composite sample of the chemistry
of most of the annual precipitation at high-elevations (> 1800 meters).
This project was created to sample the full snowpack at selected sites
to determine sources of acid deposition to sensitive mountain watersheds.
During
the past 10 years, the project has become the most expansive and comprehensive
snowpack-chemical monitoring network of its kind. Beginning with sampling
fewer than 20 sites in Colorado in 1991, the network has expanded to greater
than 50 locations along the Continental Divide that have been sampled
each year since 1993. In the process, techniques have been developed that
use robust tracers to separate and quantify local and regional sources
of atmospheric deposition of airborne pollutants. Through this program,
long-term trends are being developed in snowpack chemistry that enable
estimation of normal or background levels, and identification of elevated
chemical concentrations at a variety of locations where atmospheric deposition
of acidic compounds is a concern. The project primarily monitors federally-managed
lands in the Rocky Mountain region including several protected wilderness
areas in National Forests and Parks. Applications of this regional snow-chemistry
work include monitoring effects of snowmobile usage in Yellowstone and
other areas, regional deposition study of power-plant emissions in southern
Colorado, and sub-regional emissions effects in Montana.
OBJECTIVES:
- To develop methods to accurately represent seasonal snowpack chemistry
of a variety of compounds in single, annual samples where repeated sampling
is possible in subsequent years.
- To maintain year-to-year sampling of a core group of 50 sampling locations
to develop long-term trends in atmospheric deposition throughout the
region.
- To establish background concentrations of major ions, trace metals,
and isotopes of nitrogen and sulfur in atmospheric deposition; identify
areas of elevated concentrations relative to background levels.
- To identify probable sources of elevated atmospheric deposition to
snowpacks, and identify trends in chemistry as emissions change from
year-to-year. Distinguish local from regional sources.
- To support ongoing investigations of process-level studies of effects
on sensitive ecosystems of elevated concentrations of acids and other
chemicals in atmospheric deposition.
- To establish additional monitoring sites within the core network to
target specific local emissions of interest.
- To provide data for future management decisions regarding permitting
new emissions sources or planning reduction of existing emissions.
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