Simulating Dry Deposition Fluxes of PM_(10) and Particulate Inorganic Nitrogen over the Eastern China Seas During a Severe Asian Dust Event Using WRF-Chem Model

A WRF-Chem model including a comprehensive gas-phase nitrogen chemistry module was used to simulate a severe dust event appearing in the eastern China on 19-25 March, 2002. The modeling result well reproduced PM10 concentrations in various distances from the dust sources and the transport pathway of the dust strom. The results showed that both the concentrations and the dry deposition fluxes of PM10 increased over the China seas during the dust event following the passage of a cold front system. The maximum fluxes of PM10 in the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea during the dust event were 5.5 and 8.4 times of those before the event, respectively. However, the temporal variations of the dry deposition fluxes of particulate inorganic nitrogen differed over the Yellow Sea from those over the East China Sea. Nitrate and ammonium in the whole northern China rapidly decreased because of the intrusion of dust-loaded air on 19 March. The dust plume arrived in the Yellow Sea on 20 March, decreasing the particulate inorganic nitrogen in mass concentration accordingly. The minimum dry deposition fluxes of nitrate and ammonium in the Yellow Sea were about 3/5 and 1/6 of those before the dust arrival, respectively. In contrast, when the dust plume crossed over the Yangtze Delta area, it became abundant in nitrate and ammonium and increased the concentrations and dry deposition fluxes of particulate inorganic nitrogen over the East China Sea, where the maximum dry deposition fluxes of nitrate and ammonium increased approximately by 4.1 and 2.6 times of those prior to the dust arrival.

Atmospheric deposition of inorganic nitrogen in a semi-arid grassland of Inner Mongolia, China

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 NH_3, NO_2, HNO_3, particulate NH_4~＋（pNH_4~＋） and particulate NO_3^-（pNO_3^-） 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 NH_4~＋-N and NO_3^--N in precipitation were 2.71 and 1.99 mg N/L, respectively. The concentrations of Nr components（including NH_3, NO_2, HNO_3, p NH_4~＋, pNO_3^-, NH_4~＋-N and NO_3^--N） exhibited different seasonal variations. Specifically, NO_2 and HNO_3 exhibited higher concentrations in autumn than in summer, while the other Nr components（NH_3, pNH_4~＋, pNO_3^-, NH_4~＋-N and NO_3^--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/（hm^2·a） for NH_3, NO_2, HNO_3, p NH_4~＋ and pNO_3^-, respectively, and the calculated annual mean wet/bulk deposition fluxes were 5.37 and 3.15 kg N/（hm^2·a） for NH_4~＋-N and NO_3^--N, respectively. The estimated annual N deposition（including dry N deposition and wet/bulk N deposition） reached 14.7 kg N/（hm^2·a） in grassland of Duolun County, approaching to the upper limit of the N critical load（10–15 kg N/（hm^2·a））. Dry and wet/bulk deposition fluxes of all Nr components（with an exception of HNO_3） showed similar seasonal variations with the maximum deposition flux in summer and the minimum in winter. Reduced Nr components（e.g., gaseous NH_3 and p NH_4~＋ in atmosphere and NH_4~＋-N in precipitation） dominated the total N deposition at the sampling site（accounted for 64% of the total N deposition）, suggesting that the deposited atmospheric Nr mainly originated from agricultural activities. Considering the projected future increases in crop and livestock production in Inner Mongolia, the ecological and human risks to the negative effects of increased N deposition could be increased if no mitigation measures are taken.