Search results for ""author timothy j sullivan""

A variety of air pollutants are emitted into the atmosphere from human-caused and natural emissions sources throughout the United States and elsewhere. These contaminants impact sensitive natural resources in wilderness, including the national parks. The system of national parks in the United States is among our greatest assets. This book provides a compilation and synthesis of current scientific understanding regarding the causes and effects of these pollutants within national park lands. It describes pollutant emissions, deposition, and exposures; it identifies the critical (tipping point) loads of pollutant deposition at which adverse impacts are manifested.

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The completion of the initial phase of the U.S. National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program (NAPAP) in 1990 marked the end of the largest environmental research and assessment effort to that time. The resulting series of 27 State of Science and Technology (SOS/T) Reports and the NAPAP Integrated Assessment represent a decade of work by hundreds of scientists, engineers, and economists. Since then, many new, significant, more refined studies on acid deposition have been completed and published, considerably broadening knowledge in this area.Aquatic Effects of Acidic Deposition summarizes and synthesizes these major advancements, particularly those topics that are directly relevant to policy making. It offers complete coverage of recent findings that have substantiated, deepened, modified, or in some cases, revolutionized scientific understanding in environmental research.This resource addresses the quantification of effects and recent developments in predictive modeling capabilities. It covers virtually all aspects of nitrogen effects research, the importance of natural sources of acidity, the influence of land use and landscape change on drainage water chemistry, and the role of short-term episodic events. This comprehensive update thoroughly illustrates the progression and refinement in the field. Aquatic Effects of Acidic Deposition helps you make educated decisions based on the most recent, reliable data for air pollution sensitivities, effects, remediation, and future research.

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Ecosystem effects from air pollution in the Adirondacks, Catskills, and elsewhere in New York have been substantial. Efforts to characterize and quantify these impacts, and to examine more recent recovery, have focused largely on surface waters, soils, and forests. Lakes, streams, and soils have acidified. Estuaries have become more eutrophic. Nutrient cycles have been disrupted. Mercury has bioaccumulated to toxic levels. Plant species composition has changed. Some surface waters show signs of partial chemical recovery in response to emissions control programs, but available data suggest that soil chemistry may continue to deteriorate under expected future emissions and deposition. Resource managers, policymakers, and scientists now need to know the extent to which current and projected future emissions reductions will lead to ecosystem recovery. In this book, Timothy J. Sullivan provides a comprehensive synthesis of past, current, and potential future conditions regarding atmospheric sulfur, nitrogen oxides, ammonium, and mercury deposition; surface water chemistry; soil chemistry; forests; and aquatic biota in New York, providing much needed information to help set emissions reduction goals, evaluate incremental improvements, conduct cost/benefit analyses, and prioritize research needs. He draws upon a wealth of research conducted over the past thirty years that has categorized, quantified, and advanced understanding of ecosystem processes related to atmospheric deposition of strong acids, nutrients, and mercury and associated ecosystem effects. An important component of this volume is the new interest in the management and mitigation of ecosystem damage from air pollution stress, which builds on the "critical loads" approach pioneered in Europe and now gaining interest in the United States. This book will inform scientists, resource managers, and policy analysts regarding the state of scientific knowledge on these complex topics and their policy relevance and will help to guide public policy assessment work in New York, the Northeast, and nationally.

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