Atmospheric organic nitrogen deposition: Analysis of nationwide data and a case study in Northeast China

The origin of atmospheric dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) deposition is not very clear at present. Across China, the DON deposition was substantially larger than that of world and Europe, and we found significant positive correlation between contribution of DON and the deposition flux with pristine site data lying in outlier, possibly reflecting the acute air quality problems in China. For a case study in Northeast China, we revealed the deposited DON was mainly derived from intensive agricultural activities rather than the natural sources by analyzing the compiled dataset across China and correlating DON flux with NH4+-N and NO3−-N. Crop pollens and combustion of fossil fuels for heating probably contributed to summer and autumn DON flux respectively. Overall, in Northeast China, DON deposition could exert important roles in agro-ecosystem nutrient management and carbon sequestration of natural ecosystems; nationally, it was suggested to found rational network for monitoring DON deposition.