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Computing Atmospheric Nutrient Loads to the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and Tidal Waters
Author(s) -
Linker Lewis C.,
Dennis Robin,
Shenk Gary W.,
Batiuk Richard A.,
Grimm Jeffrey,
Wang Ping
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
jawra journal of the american water resources association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.957
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1752-1688
pISSN - 1093-474X
DOI - 10.1111/jawr.12112
Subject(s) - watershed , environmental science , deposition (geology) , total maximum daily load , hydrology (agriculture) , estuary , water quality , nitrogen , oceanography , ecology , geology , sediment , chemistry , geomorphology , geotechnical engineering , organic chemistry , machine learning , computer science , biology
Application of integrated C hesapeake B ay models of the airshed, watershed, and estuary support air and water nitrogen controls in the C hesapeake. The models include an airshed model of the Mid‐Atlantic region which tracks the estimated atmospheric deposition loads of nitrogen to the watershed, tidal B ay, and adjacent coastal ocean. The three integrated models allow tracking of the transport and fate of nitrogen air emissions, including deposition in the C hesapeake watershed, the subsequent uptake, transformation, and transport to B ay tidal waters, and their ultimate influence on C hesapeake water quality. This article describes the development of the airshed model, its application to scenarios supporting the C hesapeake Total Maximum Daily Load ( TMDL ), and key findings from the scenarios. Key findings are that the atmospheric deposition loads are among the largest input loads of nitrogen in the watershed, and that the indirect nitrogen deposition loads to the watershed, which are subsequently delivered to the B ay are larger than the direct loads of atmospheric nitrogen deposition to C hesapeake tidal waters. Atmospheric deposition loads of nitrogen deposited in coastal waters, which are exchanged with the C hesapeake, are also estimated. About half the atmospheric deposition loads of nitrogen originate from outside the C hesapeake watershed. For the first time in a TMDL , the loads of atmospheric nitrogen deposition are an explicit part of the TMDL load reductions.