He has also been involved with the experimental monitoring and numerical modeling of watersheds. Data from the five-year study that ended in 1994 shows nearly eight percent of the nitrogen in the Sound fell directly from the sky. This information has been useful to the state Department of Environmental Protection. Now it can better evaluate how much nitrogen sewage treatment plants dispersed into the Sound. Miller, who began his career in forestry, is also working with the DEP to monitor mercury concentrations around Connecticut.
Mercury occurs naturally in the environment, e.g., from volcanic emissions or from soil.
Man-caused mercury emissions can occur as the result of trash burning or the incineration of medical hazardous waste. Unlike lead, mercury is absorbed by the soil, and then is re-emitted into the air. Mercury as a gas in the atmosphere, where it enjoys extraordinary longevity, is not harmful to humans. In fish products, the dangerous compound resides in the meat of the animal, not the fat one throws away. Miller is using some mathematical models to study how mercury travels and transforms itself in the air.