Atmospheric Nutrient Input to Coastal Areas – Reducing the Uncertainties

To address the need for an objective methodology to assess the importance of the atmospheric input to coastal regions, the ARLIAtmospheric Nutrient Input To Coastal Areas (ANICA) program was developed through the NOAA Coastal Ocean Program. During the four-year lifetime of ANICA, methods for assessing the role of atmospheric nitrogen loadings to coastal areas were developed, and other stakeholders were alerted to the importance of the atmospheric deposition issue. Much of the progress under the ANICA program was made by cooperative effort with the Chesapeake Bay Program through alliance with the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office. Through this alliance, ARL researchers were invited to assume the chairmanship of the multi-agency Air Quality Coordination Group (AQCG) of the Chesapeake Bay Program. Subsequently, the AQCG hosted two major atmospheric loadings workshops. The first was a scientific workshop at Baltimore, Md., in 1994 (the “Mt. Washington Workshop”) which succeeded in defining and prioritizing immediate research needs to reduce existing uncertainty surrounding the atmospheric loadings issue. Through its leadership role in the AQCG, the success of the Mt. Washington Workshop strategically positioned ARL at the head of coastal nutrientlatmospheric loadings research and assessment in the U.S. This position was strengthened in areas to the north and south of the Chesapeake Bay through a the second workshop of local, state, and federal policy makers conducted near Warrenton, Va., in 1995 (the “Airlie Workshop”). The results and recommendations of the two Workshops listed above, and the underlying science behind atmospheric nutrient loadings to coastal areas are substantiated in the documentation that follows. This report will: a) review the underlying framework needed for understanding atmospheric loadings issues, b) present the specific research conducted by ARL and associated scientists under the ANICA background/measurement/modeling framework, c) summarize the current state of the science, and d) suggest the remaining research and management needs.