Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 117, Issue 18, Pages 9771-9775Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1920068117
Keywords
nitrogen deposition; reduced forms of nitrogen; ammonia emission; emission control strategy
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Funding
- Office of Science of the US Department of Energy [DE-AC05-00OR22725]
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Human activities and population growth have increased the natural burden of reactive nitrogen (N) in the environment. Excessive N deposition on Earth's surface leads to adverse feed-backs on ecosystems and humans. Similar to that of air pollution, emission control is recognized as an efficient means to control acid deposition. Control of nitrogen oxides (NOx = NO + NO2) emissions has led to reduction in deposition of oxidized nitrogen (NOy, the sum of all oxidized nitrogen species, except nitrous oxide [N2O]). Reduced forms of nitrogen (NHx = ammonia [NH3] + ammonium [NH4+]) deposition have, otherwise, increased, offsetting the benefit of reduction in NOy deposition. Stringent control of NH3 emissions is being considered. In this study, we assess the response of N deposition to N emission control on continental regions. We show that significant reduction of NHx deposition is unlikely to be achieved at the early stages of implementing NH3 emission abatement. Per-unit NH3 emission abatement is shown to result in only 60-80% reduction in NHx deposition, which is significantly lower than the demonstrated 80-120% benefit of controlling NOx emissions on NOy deposition. This 60-80% effectiveness of NHx deposition reduction per unit NH3 emission abatement reflects, in part, the effects of simultaneous reductions in NOx and SO2 emissions.
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