Update on the NADP Atmospheric Mercury Initiative

1
Update on the NADP Atmospheric Mercury Initiative
Developing a new coordinated and collaborative
approach to atmospheric mercury monitoring
A Briefing for Ambient Monitoring Steering
Committee June 21, 2007 Washington D.C.
2
Outline

• Atmospheric mercury initiative strategy
• Planning/community-building
• Update on technical aspects
• Update on funding opportunities
• Summary

3
Atmospheric mercury initiative planning

• EPA is leading the planning effort with NADP to
  establish a new network for monitoring
  atmospheric mercury species
• Scientific and policy communities have shown
  strong support for this network
• Data needed for model evaluation and for
  assessment of Hg control programs
• EPA is working with NADP because they have a
  proven 25 year track record of distributing
  high-quality data in a scientifically credible,
  transparent manner
• Voluntary, broad participation
• The goals of this atmospheric mercury initiative
  are to
• Build a data set for analyzing spatial and
  temporal trends
• Provide data for evaluating models and assessing
  source- receptor relationships
• Facilitate the calculation of wet, dry, and total
  deposition

4
Proposed Atmospheric Mercury Initiative Sites
Provisional, coordinated network of 8 -10 sites
expected to operate this year
5
Update on technical aspects

• Developing standard operating procedures for
  atmospheric Hg species (initial SOPs Summer 2007)
• Drafting based on a best management practices
  survey and from QA/QC documents from states, Hg
  researchers, and Environment Canada
• NADP technical workshop Chicago, IL September
  2007
• Experts who know how to run a Tekran system
• Consensus on the automated Hg monitoring SOP
  among Hg monitoring experts
• Draft SOP sent out for comment in advance of the
  meeting
• Developing capacity to electronically collect and
  share atmospheric Hg data from 3 initial
  monitoring sites
• Network infrastructure for data sharing (i.e.,
  using data loggers, internet, or floppy disks)
• Standardized data transfer protocols (i.e.,
  transferring data from field site to office
  computer)

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Update on technical aspects (cont.)NADP SOP
Development Process
Input and collaboration in each step forward
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Community-building meetings
Emphasis on ensuring this is an inclusive,
multi-stakeholder initiative

• May 2006 - Riverside, CA
• NADP Spring Meeting
• June 2006 - Chicago, IL
• NADP Atmospheric Mercury Scientists Workshop
• October 2006 - Norfolk, VA
• NADP Fall Meeting
• Two people from state air groups participated
• January March 2007 Conference Calls
• NACAA Briefings
• April 2007 - Burlington, VT
• NADP Spring Meeting
• Eleven people from state air groups participated

8
Funding opportunities

• Limited EPA funding available this year to
  support existing speciated ambient mercury sites
  participating in the monitoring effort
• Site operators/PIs agreeing to conform to
  network requirements
• Limited funding designated for site operations
  and/or to upgrade equipment (e.g., for how a site
  can interface with the network)
• Near-term plan for a competitive acquisition
  process (i.e., contracts)
• An efficient way to make a small amount of
  resources available for monitoring services and
  existing data collection efforts
• Exploring possibility of supplying Tekran
  maintenance kits
• Repair parts and supply kits to site operators
  participating in the NADP Atmospheric Mercury
  Initiative
• Limit down time of instruments

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Summary

• This is a voluntary effort looking for partners
  to collaborate
• This effort focuses on coordinating existing
  sites due to funding limitations
• Patchwork funding expected over the next couple
  of years
• Limited resources will go to site operators to
  supplement existing operations of Tekran
  speciation systems
• September 2007 methods workshop next major
  milestone

NADP Atmospheric Mercury Initiative
Website http//nadp.sws.uiuc.edu/mtn/