Nitrogen and phosphorus budgets in the Baltic Sea

Abstract

The paper reports the budgets of inorganic and total nitrogen and phosphorus based on a recalculation of the existing water balance. The nitrogen budgets indicate that humus carried by river runoff probably dominates in the sedimentation of nitrogenous organic matter, while the excess transferred to the layer below the halocline is controlled by the amounts added by river runoff and waste disposal. The budgets appear to be considerably influenced by eutrophication and human activity. The phosphorus budget indicates that the supply of organic phosphorus and oxygen in the layers below the halocline are in a precarious balance with each other. Phosphorus and nitrogen compounds appear to sediment in almost the same proportions as their concentrations in the bottom water.