In 1981 the Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO) of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) established a network of Great Lakes Atmospheric Deposition (GLAD) sites to determine atmospheric loadings of metals, nutrients, and major inorganic species to the Great Lakes and to evaluate annual trends in the chemical loadings of these species to the lakes. The network was designed to collect wet-only deposition samples at near-shore locations. The study contains an analysis and interpretation of atmospheric wet deposition data collected by the GLAD network. Included in the study are: an assessment of data quality; a comparison of specific pairs of GLAD and National Atmospheric elements to the five Great Lakes; and an analysis of the potential changes in loading estimates caused by closing certain GLAD sampling sites.