Publication Date:
2018-01-25
Description:
Reactive nitrogen (N r ) is an essential nutrient to plants and a limiting element for growth in many ecosystems, but it can have harmful effects on ecosystems when in excess. Satellite-derived surface observations are used together with a dry deposition model to estimate the dry deposition flux of the most abundant short-lived nitrogen species, NH 3 and NO 2 , over North America during the 2013 warm season. These fluxes demonstrate that the NH 3 contribution dominates over NO 2 for most regions (comprising ~85% of their sum in Canada and ~65% in the U.S.), with some regional exceptions (e.g. Alberta and northeastern U.S.). Nationwide, ~51 t of N from these species were dry deposited in the U.S., approximately double the ~28 t in Canada over this period. Forest fires are shown to be the major contributor of dry deposition of N r from NH 3 in northern latitudes, leading to deposition fluxes 2–3 times greater than from expected amounts without fires. ©2017. Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada. Reproduced with the permission of the Minister of the Environment.
Print ISSN:
0094-8276
Electronic ISSN:
1944-8007
Topics:
Geosciences
,
Physics
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