Due to increasing global demand for crop production and energy use, more and more reactive nitrogen(Nr) has been generated and emitted to the environment. As a result, global atmospheric nitrogen(N) deposition has tripled since the industrial revolution and the ecological environment and human health have been harmed. In this study, we measured dry and wet/bulk N deposition from July 2013 to December 2015 in a semi-arid grassland of Duolun County, Inner Mongolia, China. The samples of dry and wet/bulk N deposition were collected monthly with a DELTA(DEnuder for Long Term Atmospheric sampling) system and with Gradko passive samplers and a precipitation gauge. The measured results show that the annual mean concentrations of NH3, NO2, HNO3, particulate NH4+(pNH4+) and particulate NO3-(pNO3-) in atmosphere were 2.33, 1.90, 0.18, 1.42 and 0.42 μg N/m3, respectively, and that the annual mean volume-weighted concentrations of NH4+-N and NO3--N in precipitation were 2.71 and 1.99 mg N/L, respectively. The concentrations of Nr components(including NH3, NO2, HNO3, p NH4+, pNO3-, NH4+-N and NO3--N) exhibited different seasonal variations. Specifically, NO2 and HNO3 exhibited higher concentrations in autumn than in summer, while the other Nr components(NH3, pNH4+, pNO3-, NH4+-N and NO3--N) showed the highest values in summer. Based on measured concentrations of Nr components and their deposition velocities estimated using the GEOS-Chem global atmospheric chemical transport model, the calculated annual mean dry deposition fluxes were 3.17, 1.13, 0.63, 0.91 and 0.36 kg N/(hm2·a) for NH3, NO2, HNO3, p NH4+ and pNO3-, respectively, and the calculated annual mean wet/bulk deposition fluxes were 5.37 and 3.15 kg N/(hm2·a) for NH4+-N and NO3--N, respectively. The estimated annual N deposition(including dry N deposition and wet/bulk N deposition) reached 14.7 kg N/(hm2·a) in grassland of Duolun County, approaching to the upper limit of the N critical load(10–15 kg N/(hm2·a))
Due to increasing global demand for crop production and energy use, more and more reactive nitrogen (Nr) has been generated and emitted to the environment. As a result, global atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition has tripled since the industrial revolution and the ecological environment and human health have been harmed. In this study, we measured dry and wet/bulk N deposition from July 2013 to December 2015 in a semi-arid grassland of Duolun County, Inner Mongolia, China. The samples of dry and wet/bulk N deposition were collected monthly with a DELTA (DEnuder for Long Term Atmospheric sampling) system and with Gradko passive samplers and a precipitation gauge. The measured results show that the annual mean concentrations of NH3, NO2, HNO3, particulate NH4 + (pNH4 +) and particulate NO3 ? (pNO3 ?) in atmosphere were 2.33, 1.90, 0.18, 1.42 and 0.42 μg N/m3, respectively, and that the annual mean volume-weighted concentrations ofNH4 +-N and NO3 ?-N in precipitation were 2.71 and 1.99 mg N/L, respectively. The concentrations of Nr components (including NH3, NO2, HNO3, pNH4 +, pNO3 ?,NH4 +-N and NO3 ?-N) exhibited different seasonal variations. Specifically, NO2 and HNO3 exhibited higher concentrations in autumn than in summer, while the other Nr components (NH3, pNH4 +, pNO3 ?,NH4 +-N and NO3 ?-N) showed the highest values in summer. Based on measured concentrations of Nr components and their deposition velocities estimated using the GEOS-Chem global atmospheric chemical transport model, the calculated annual mean dry deposition fluxes were 3.17, 1.13, 0.63, 0.91 and 0.36 kg N/(hm2