EROS Summary

1. EROS Summary 4/24/13

2. Who is citing NADP data and for what purpose? – Susan Braxton • Susan presented results from Google Scholar summarizing NADP citations including frequency and publication type. • The committee supports continuation of this work and sharing the information with the NADP community and data users by: • Including a 1 pager with annual summaries sent to site supervisors • Including a short summary or blurb in the NADP annual reports • Adding a short summary to the NADP website to be updated annually

3. Susan noted that the completeness of the NADP citations was highly variable, suggesting that authors were having difficulty referencing data. • The subcommittee supports inclusion of the suggested citation “National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NRSP-3). 2013. NADP Program Office, Illinois State Water Survey, 2204 Griffith Dr., Champaign, IL 61820” at the top of each data file. • How do we foster a closer connection between NADP and other networks (networking the networks)? • Propose a special session at ESA or AGU, to be organized by NADP and NEON, around the theme “Linking long-term environmental datasets to promote efficient data exchange and scientific collaboration”

4. With respect to making NADP data more “useable” is would be useful to provide links to other datasets from the NADP website. • For example – On the AMON website it may be useful for users that intend to use the data for flux modeling to be able to link to databases of meteorological measurements, soil chemistry, etc. • Ultimately we could envision an interactive map of NADP sites on which a user could toggle on and off locations of sites containing other air-quality, water quality, ecological, and meteorological data. However, we realize this is a lofty goal. • A first step will be to develop a list of potentially useful datasets, a link to the website and supporting QA/QC documentation, and a two sentence description of the dataset. We will also investigate other existing data repositories.

5. Universal poster template – David Gay • Templates have been developed. David will submit them to the editor for a final check and then post them on the website. • Mark Rhodes also developed a poster that can be displayed at NADP sites. The initial version is a typical size poster for a sites with plenty of room for display. This version will be posted to the website. • The subcommittee supports the development of a smaller version that can be weather proof. This version will be developed as a draft for the fall meeting.

6. Making NADP meetings more “green”. • For the fall meeting, registrants will be given an option to have an electronic or hard copy of the proceedings. • Meeting participants will be reminded to return name tags for recycling. • Where possible, NADP will continue to choose the “greenest” facilities for conferences, though government per diem often constrains our options.

7. Is EROS adequately addressing our committee charges related to ecological response? • The committee review the EROS “charges” and feel that we are still adequately meeting our goals related to ecosystem response. • However, we intend to reserve some portion of each committee meeting agenda to discuss an ecosystem response science related issue that is relevant to TDEP and CLAD. This

8. Publication of annual maps pre 1994 – Bob Larson • Annual maps back to 1985 are completed. • The committee will put forth a motion to incorporate the following • Limitation of Usability • NADP annual concentration and deposition maps represent a modeled, spatial interpolation, of quality controlled point observation data from NTN and MDN sites.  Uncertainty in the measurements and the making of the maps is an unavoidable part of the process. • The intended purpose of the maps is to represent regional trends in concentration and deposition data.  Uncertainty varies geographically and has not been quantified. Higher levels of uncertainty can be expected when looking at localized trends/features, regions with large topographic variability, and regions isolated from nearby NADP sites. Uncertainty also increases when viewing the maps at smaller scales and evaluating small scale features. • Users of the maps are warned to use caution when making decisions based upon localized estimates within the map where measurements were not taken. • We propose to include this information as • 1) embedded in the map pdf (can be seen but will not print with map • 2) as a link on the annual maps page as “important information”

9. Publication of annual maps pre 1994 – Bob Larson • We propose to include this information as • 1) embedded in the map pdf (can be seen but will not print with map • 2) as a link on the annual maps page as “important information”

10. Site history table – Bob Larson • A student will be hired to clean up some of the site data. • A field will be added to the table to control what data are displayed. • Use of digital object identifier (doi) for NADP products. • Committee will put forth a motion to begin using doi as soon as possible and to reserve the necessary funds ($2000/year) for the 2014 budget. • Developing a nitrogen education tool – Donna SchwedeCommittee agreed that such a tool would be useful but also agreed that some work is needed to make our educational tools more usable by making the materials more consistent with teaching curricula and grade-level standards.

11. The committee felt like this is a significant enough need to pursue the idea of developing a project for a graduate student or intern in science education. • The goal would be for this person to help make the NADP “education” page more usable to teachers perhaps by using a nitrogen educational tool. • We also want to pursue the idea of establishing an NADP related experiment for the 4H National Science Day. • New business • Put forth a motion to direct the program office to establish a link to training videos on the NADP site.