IMPROVE Operations and Filter Analysis

The purpose of this contract is to (1) assist NPS in operating, maintaining and reconfiguring (where required) the IMPROVE particle monitoring network, which consists of 110 IMPROVE sites and 47 IMPROVE protocol sites; (2) analyze all exposed fine (PM2.5) and total (PM10) Teflon filters for mass concentrations; and (3) analyze PM2.5 Teflon filters for elemental concentrations of select elements (Table 1) and optical absorption; (4) coordinate analysis of nylon and quartz filters for ion and carbonaceous material, respectively ; (5) establish and conduct an internal quality assurance program; (6) participate in laboratory and field audits; and (7) provide a final, integrated dataset (including ion and carbon data, as well as associated metadata).