Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2017LA113B

Effects of climate change on nitrogen and sulfur deposition to Louisiana water bodies using climate downscaling meteorology and chemical transport model

Institute: Louisiana
Year Established: 2017 Start Date: 2017-03-01 End Date: 2019-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $15,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $30,029

Principal Investigators: Hongliang Zhang

Project Summary: Wet deposition and dry deposition reduce concentrations of sulfur and nitrogen contained air pollutants in atmosphere, but lead to increase of sulfur and nitrogen to surface, causing acidification of surface water bodies and subsequent damage to aquatic ecosystems as well as damage to forests and vegetation. Louisiana has abundant water resources with approximately 11% of the total surface area composed of water bodies. Due to the potential expansion of industrial activities in Louisiana, the emissions are expected to increase significantly in future. Also, climate change in future will change the meteorology and the physical and chemical processes that determine the deposition of sulfur and nitrogen. It is important to protect water resources from excessive atmospheric deposition of sulfur and nitrogen with increasing emissions and changing climate. However, information is limited to design cost-effective and efficient emission control strategies. This study uses climate downscaling meteorology and a source-oriented chemical transport model, Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ), to simulate emission, formation, transport, and deposition of sulfur and nitrogen species in Louisiana in 2050. Community Climate System Model (CCSM) results will be downscaled for future climate period using Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model and future emissions will be generated by Sparse Matrix Operator Kernel Emissions (SMOKE) based on based on national emission inventory (NEI). The differences in forms and quantities of sulfur and nitrogen deposition from wet and dry processes, spatial variations of sulfur and nitrogen fluxes and contributions of major source in future will be obtained and compared with current situations for designing effective emission control strategies.