Spatial distribution of wet deposition of nitrogen in South Korea

Abstract

A method is developed to estimate wet deposition of nitrogen in a 11×14 km (0.125°Lon.×0.125°Lat.) grid scale using the precipitation chemistry monitored data at 10 sites scattered over South Korea supplemented by the routinely available precipitation rate data at 65 sites and the estimated emissions of NO 2 and NH 3 at each precipitation monitoring site. This approach takes into account the contributions of local NO 2 and NH 3 emissions and precipitation rates on wet deposition of nitrogen. Wet deposition of nitrogen estimated by optimum regression equations for NO 3 − and NH 4 + derived from annual total monitored wet deposition and that of emissions of NO 2 and NH 3 is incorporated to normalize wet deposition of nitrogen at each precipitation rate class, which is divided into 6 classes. The optimum regression equations for the estimation of wet deposition of nitrogen at precipitation monitoring sites are developed using the normalized wet deposition of nitrogen and the precipitation rate at 10 precipitation chemistry monitoring sites. The estimated average annual total wet depositions of NO 3 − and NH 4 + are found to be 260 and 500 eq ha −1 yr −1 with the maximum values of 400 and 930 eq ha −1 yr −1, respectively. The annual mean total wet deposition of nitrogen is found to be about 760 eq ha −1 yr −1, of which more than 65% is contributed by wet deposition of ammonium while, the emission of NH 3 is about half of that of NO 2, suggesting the importance of NH 3 emission for wet deposition of nitrogen in South Korea.