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Since the mid-1950s, native pines in the San Bernardino Mountains (SBM) in southern California have shown symptoms of decline. Initial studies in 1963 showed that ozone (O3) generated in the upwind Los Angeles Basin was responsible for the injury and decline of sensitive trees. Ambient O3 decreased significantly by the mid-1990s, resulting in decreased O3 injury and improved tree growth. Increased growth of trees may also be attributed to elevated atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition. Since most of the N deposition to mixed conifer forest stands in the SBM results from dry deposition of nitric acid vapor (HNO3) and ammonia (NH3), characterization of spatial and temporal distribution of these two pollutants has become essential. Although maximum daytime O3 concentrations over last 40 years have significantly decreased (approximately 3-fold), seasonal means have been reduced much less (approximately 1.5-fold), with 2-week long means occasionally exceeding 100 ppb in the western part of the range. In the same area, significantly elevated concentrations of HNO3 and NH3, up to 17.5 and 18.5 microg/m3 as 2-week averages, respectively, have been determined. Elevated levels of O3 and increased N deposition together with long-term drought predispose the SBM forests to massive bark beetle attacks making them susceptible to catastrophic fires.

Models of O3 distribution in two mountain ranges, the Carpathians in Central Europe and the Sierra Nevada in California were constructed using ArcGIS Geostatistical Analyst extension (ESRI, Redlands, CA) using kriging and cokriging methods. The adequacy of the spatially interpolated ozone (O3) concentrations and sample size requirements for ozone passive samplers was also examined. In case of the Carpathian Mountains, only a general surface of O3 distribution could be obtained, partially due to a weak correlation between O3 concentration and elevation, and partially due to small numbers of unevenly distributed sample sites. In the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the O3 monitoring network was much denser and more evenly distributed, and additional climatologic information was available. As a result the estimated surfaces were more precise and reliable than those created for the Carpathians. The final maps of O3 concentrations for Sierra Nevada were derived from cokriging algorithm based on two secondary variables--elevation and maximum temperature as well as the determined geographic trend. Evenly distributed and sufficient numbers of sample points are a key factor for model accuracy and reliability.