Nitrogen deposition in the UK at 1 km resolution from 1990 to 2017

Abstract

Abstract. An atmospheric chemistry transport model (FRAME) is used here to calculate annual UK N deposition for the years 1990–2017, at a 1 km × 1 km resolution. Reactive nitrogen (N) deposition is a threat that can lead to adverse effects on the environment and human health. In Europe, substantial reductions in N deposition from nitrogen oxide emissions have been achieved in recent decades. This paper quantifies reductions in UK N deposition following the N emissions peak in 1990. In the UK, estimates of N deposition are typically available at a coarse spatial resolution (typically 5 km × 5 km grid resolution), and it is often difficult to compare estimates between years due to methodological changes in emission estimates. Through efforts to reduce emissions of N from industry, traffic, and agriculture, this study predicts that UK N deposition has reduced from 465 kt N in 1990 to 278 kt N in 2017. However, as part of this overall reduction, there are non-uniform changes for wet and dry deposition of reduced N (NHx) and oxidised N (NOy). In 2017, it is estimated 59 % of all N deposition is in the form of reduced N, a change from 35 % in 1990. This dataset uses 28 years of emissions data from 1990 to 2017 to produce the first long-term dataset of 28 years of N deposition at 1 km × 1 km resolution in the UK. Full data are available at https://doi.org/10.5285/9b203324-6b37-4e91-b028-e073b197fb9f (Tomlinson et al., 2020).

Spatiotemporal Variations of Soil Reactive Nitrogen Oxide Fluxes across the Anthropogenic Landscape

“…Intact cores were first brought to room temperature over 24 h and then normalized to 18–25% gravimetric water content (GWC) by the addition of reagent-grade water. Cores were analyzed for 48 h. To examine the effects of N deposition on the different soil types, a subsequent experiment was performed where 0.39 mg of ammonium nitrate (NH 4 NO 3 ) was dissolved in reagent-grade water and added to soil within chambers and gas flux was analyzed for a further 24 h. The amount used was equivalent to 4 months of total average N deposition over the entire U.K. or one season, as reported by Tomlinson et al 26 ( Figure S6 of the Supporting Information). It should be noted that, as the temperature and water content of these soils have been normalized in these lab-based experiments, future field experiments are required to validate the relevance of these measurements to real-world scenarios.…”

Fifty years of reduction in sulphur deposition drives recovery in soil pH and plant communities

“…Atmospheric N and S deposition was taken from a 1 km grid surface from the FRAME atmospheric chemistry transport model (Tipping et al, 2017; Tomlinson et al, 2021) and is available at the NERC EIDC, see data availability statement. Cumulative N deposition for the 8 years previous to survey was calculated for each square, as was the difference in S deposition over the 8 years previous to survey.…”

“…Soils data is available at: https://doi.org/10.5285/85c71959-0f7c-4f04-b3a7-152673107a85 (Bunce et al, 2016); https://doi.org/10.5285/9d1eada2-3f8b-4a7b-a9b0-a7a04d05ff72 (Black et al, 2016); https://doi.org/10.5285/79669141-cde5-49f0-b24d-f3c6a1a52db8 (Emmett et al, 2016); https://doi.org/10.5285/aaada12b-0af0-44ba-8ffc-5e07f410f435 (Robinson et al, 2020). Atmospheric deposition data is available at: https://doi.org/10.5285/9b203324-6b37-4e91-b028-e073b197fb9f (Tomlinson et al, 2020).…”

Fifty years of reduction in sulphur deposition drives recovery in soil pH and plant communities

“…Atmospheric N and S deposition was taken from a 1 km grid surface from the FRAME atmospheric chemistry transport model (Tipping et al, 2017;Tomlinson et al, 2021) and is available at the NERC EIDC, see data availability statement. Cumulative N deposition for the 8 years previous to survey was calculated for each square, as was the difference in S deposition over the 8 years previous to survey.…”