G.9. NPS Gaseous Pollutant Monitoring Program (GPMP)
- Purpose of network: measurement of ozone and related meteorological elements.
- Primary management agency: NPS.
- Data website: http://www2.nature.nps.gov/air/monitoring.
- Measured weather/climate elements:
o Air temperature.
o Relative humidity.
o Precipitation.
o Wind speed and direction.
o Solar radiation.
o Surface wetness.
- Sampling frequency: continuous.
- Reporting frequency: hourly.
- Estimated station cost: unknown.
- Network strengths:
o Stations are located within NPS park units.
o Data quality is excellent, with high data standards.
o Provides unique measurements that are not available elsewhere.
o Records are up to 2 decades in length.
o Site maintenance is excellent.
o Thermometers are aspirated.
- Network weaknesses:
o Not easy to download the entire data set or to ingest live data.
o Period of record is short compared to other automated networks. Earliest sites date from 2004.
o Station spacing and coverage: station installation is episodic, driven by opportunistic situations.
The NPS web site indicates that there are 33 sites with continuous ozone analysis run by NPS, with records from a few to about 16-17 years. Of these stations, 12 are labeled as GPMP sites and the rest are labeled as CASTNet sites. All of these have standard meteorological measurements, including a 10-m mast. Another nine GPMP sites are located within NPS units but run by cooperating agencies. A number of other sites (1-2 dozen) ran for differing periods in the past, generally less than 5-10 years.
G.10. National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP)
- Purpose of network: measurement of precipitation chemistry and atmospheric deposition.
- Primary management agencies: USDA, but multiple collaborators.
- Data website: http://nadp.sws.uiuc.edu.
- Measured weather/climate elements:
o Precipitation.
- Sampling frequency: daily.
- Reporting frequency: daily.
- Estimated station cost: unknown.
- Network strengths:
o Data quality is excellent, with high data standards.
o Site maintenance is excellent.
- Network weaknesses:
o A very limited number of climate parameters are measured.
Stations within the NADP network monitor primarily wet deposition through precipitation chemistry at selected sites around the U.S. and its territories. The network is a collaborative effort among several agencies including USGS and USDA. Precipitation is the primary climate parameter measured at NADP sites.
