Uncovering the spatial characteristics of global net anthropogenic nitrogen input at high resolution and across 1.42 million lake basins

Li, J., Sun, Y., Qin, Y., Tang, T. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2867-9241, Kahil, T. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7812-5271, Burek, P. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6390-8487, Zhao, G., Cai, K., Jiang, Q., & Liu, Y. (2024). Uncovering the spatial characteristics of global net anthropogenic nitrogen input at high resolution and across 1.42 million lake basins. Science of the Total Environment 953 e176143. 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.176143.

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Abstract

Global Net Anthropogenic Nitrogen Input (NANI) at high resolution is crucial for assessing the impact of human activities on aquatic environments. Insufficient global high-resolution data sources and methods have hindered the effective examination of the global characteristics and driving forces of NANI. This study presents a general framework for calculating global NANI, providing estimates at a 5-arc-minute resolution and over 1.42 million lake basins in 2015. The results highlight the region near the Tropic of Cancer as a concentration area for high NANI and an inflection point for latitude-based accumulation variation. It also emphasizes the uneven distribution of NANI among continents, with Asia and Africa having the highest proportions, yet their high and low values are notably lower than those of Europe and South America. A similar pattern is observed in global lakes, where Asia has the smallest quantity and volume, but the highest NANI intensity. In contrast, North America and Europe have larger quantities and volumes but the lowest NANI intensity. The global distribution characteristics reveal a clustering pattern in high and low values, with 1.25 % of the area having a sum of NANI exceeding 20 %. The uncertainty analysis regarding model parameters indicates that continents with the highest NANI do not always exhibit the highest uncertainty. These results bridge the gap between global nitrogen sustainable management and anthropogenic nitrogen input. They support research on spatiotemporal changes and controlling factors of global river nutrient loads, as well as the impact of climatic factors on basin nitrogen loss and its variability.

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