G - I
type: Concept

IMPROVE
type: Concept
in scheme: projects
definition: The Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) program is a cooperative measurement effort governed by a steering committee composed of representatives from Federal and regional-state organizations. The IMPROVE monitoring program was established in 1985 to aid the creation of Federal and State implementation plans for the protection of visibility in Class I areas (156 national parks and wilderness areas) as stipulated in the 1977 amendments to the Clean Air Act. The objectives of IMPROVE are: 1. to establish current visibility and aerosol conditions in mandatory class I areas ( 2. to identify chemical species and emission sources responsible for existing man-made visibility impairment 3. to document long-term trends for assessing progress towards the national visibility goal 4. and with the enactment of the Regional Haze Rule, to provided regional haze monitoring representing all visibility-protected federal class I areas where practical. IMPROVE has also been a key participant in visibility-related research, including the advancement of monitoring instrumentation, analysis techniques, visibility modeling, policy formulation and source attribution field studies. Contact Information: Bret Schichtel, D. Sc Colorado State University Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere Foothills Campus Fort Collins, CO, 80523-1375 Phone: 970-491-8581 Fax: 970-491-8598 Schichtel&#64Cira.Colostate.edu Website: "http://vista.cira.colostate.edu/improve/" [Summary provided by Colorado State University]