Abstract
Abstract. Since the industrial revolution, human activities have dramatically changed the nitrogen (N) cycle in natural systems. Anthropogenic emissions of reactive nitrogen (Nr) can return to the earth's surface through atmospheric Nr deposition. Increased Nr deposition may improve ecosystem productivity. However, excessive Nr deposition can cause a series of negative effects on ecosystem health, biodiversity, soil, and water. Thus, accurate estimations of Nr deposition are necessary for evaluating its environmental impacts. The United States, Canada and Europe have successively launched a number of satellites with sensors that allow retrieval of atmospheric NO2 and NH3 column density and therefore estimation of surface Nr concentration and deposition at an unprecedented spatiotemporal scale. Atmosphere NH3 column can be retrieved from atmospheric infra-red emission, while atmospheric NO2 column can be retrieved from reflected solar radiation. In recent years, scientists attempted to estimate surface Nr concentration and deposition using satellite retrieval of atmospheric NO2 and NH3 columns. In this study, we give a thorough review of recent advances of estimating surface Nr concentration and deposition using the satellite retrievals of NO2 and NH3, present a framework of using satellite data to estimate surface Nr concentration and deposition based on recent works, and summarize the existing challenges for estimating surface Nr concentration and deposition using the satellite-based methods. We believe that exploiting satellite data to estimate Nr deposition has a broad and promising prospect.
Highlights
Nitrogen (N) exists in three forms in the environment, including reactive nitrogen (Nr), organic nitrogen (ON) and nitrogen gas (N2) (Canfield et al, 2010)
Another approach tries to fit general vertical profiles of NO2 and NH3 (Zhang et al, 2017; Liu et al, 2017b, c) and estimate the ratio of Nr concentration at any height to total Nr columns and multiply the ratio by satellite NO2 and NH3 columns. This approach has an advantage compared with the previous one because NO2 and NH3 concentration at all altitudes included in atmospheric chemical transport modeling (ACTM) simulations can be estimated
Previous studies have focused on using the satellite NO2 column to estimate surface NO2 concentrations and dry NO2 deposition both regionally and globally
Summary
Nitrogen (N) exists in three forms in the environment, including reactive nitrogen (Nr), organic nitrogen (ON) and nitrogen gas (N2) (Canfield et al, 2010). L. Liu et al.: Reviewing global estimates of surface reactive nitrogen concentration. Atmospheric Nr deposition can increase the Nr input to ecosystems, which promotes plant growth and enhances ecosystem productivity (Erisman et al, 2008). The methods of estimating atmospheric Nr deposition can be divided into three categories: ground-based monitoring, atmospheric chemical transport modeling (ACTM) and satellite-based estimation. This study focuses on reviewing the recent development of satellite-based methods to estimate Nr deposition. Based methods and present a detailed framework of using satellite observation to estimate dry and wet Nr deposition (including both oxidized and reduced Nr). We review the recent advances of the satellite-based methods of estimating Nr deposition. We discuss the remaining challenges for estimating surface Nr concentration and deposition using satellite observation
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