Buffalo National River Air Quality

Buffalo National River's Air-Quality Site. Jessica Caplinger. Buffalo National River has been monitoring air-quality since 1982. This site, located near the Buffalo Point Ranger Station, is part of a national network known as the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP). The purpose of the network is to collect data on the chemistry of precipitation for monitoring of geographical and temporal long-term trends.

Precipitation, typically rainfall, is collected every Tuesday using strict procedures to prevent contamination of the sample. The sample is measured for pH and specific conductivity by the Resource Management staff of Buffalo National River, and is then sent to the Central Analytical Laboratory in Champaign, Illinois, where it is analyzed for hydrogen (acidity as pH), sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, chloride, and base cations (such as calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium). The Buffalo National River site has only mild concentrations of airborne pollutants and is considered as a baseline site for the ecoregion.