Atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition, an important component in the global N cycle, has increased sharply in recent decades in China. Here, we constructed national-scale inorganic N wet deposition (N_dep) patterns in China based on data from 280 observational sites and analysed the effects of anthropogenic sources and precipitation on N_dep Our results showed that the mean N_dep over China increased approximately 25%, from 11.11 kg ha21 a21 in the 1990s to 13.87 in the 2000s. N_dep was highest over southern China and exhibited a decreasing gradient from southern to western and northern China. The decadal difference in N_dep between the 1990s and 2000s was primarily caused by increases in energy consumption and N fertilizer use. Our findings conformed that anthropogenic activities were the main reason for the N_dep increase and provide a scientific background for studies on ecological effects of N deposition in China.

Yanlong Jia, Guirui Yu, Nianpeng He, Xiaoyun Zhan, Huajun Fang, Wenping Sheng, Yao Zuo, Dayong Zhang & Qiufeng Wang. Spatial and decadal variations in inorganic nitrogen wet deposition in China induced by human activity. Sci. Rep. 4, 3763; DOI: 10.1038/srep03763 (2014)