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Dry Deposition of Reactive Nitrogen From Satellite Observations of Ammonia and Nitrogen Dioxide Over North America
Author(s) -
Kharol S. K.,
Shephard M. W.,
McLinden C. A.,
Zhang L.,
Sioris C. E.,
O'Brien J. M.,
Vet R.,
CadyPereira K. E.,
Hare E.,
Siemons J.,
Krotkov N. A.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2017gl075832
Subject(s) - nitrogen , reactive nitrogen , deposition (geology) , flux (metallurgy) , ecosystem , environmental science , ammonia , nitrogen dioxide , atmospheric sciences , nutrient , latitude , dry season , environmental chemistry , chemistry , ecology , geography , geology , meteorology , biology , paleontology , organic chemistry , geodesy , sediment
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, ~1.35 Tg of N from these species were dry deposited in the contiguous U.S., more than double the ~0.61 Tg in Canada (excluding territories) 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.