Soil, Water and Environmental Sustainability

Nitrogen Deposition & Nutrient Modeling

Researchers are using the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) modeling system to understand the life cycle of nitrogen from its release into the atmosphere to its deposition on land and water. Using this model, researchers can develop deposition scenarios and compile information on nitrogen movement that can be used to manage nitrogen use and impacts.

• Improve ways to measure the transfer of nitrogen and other pollutants from the atmosphere to land and water surfaces.
• Use computer modeling to study deposition sources, atmospheric concentrations and their distribution patterns to urban areas, determine model efficiency, and appraise low-cost deposition techniques.
• Measure gaseous and particulate nitrogen mixtures at five existing air quality monitoring network sites to describe the total amount of atmospheric nitrogen.
• Study the relationships between airborne concentrations and total deposition of nitrogen and sulfur.