Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Mast, M. Alisa
• Clow, David W
• Baron, Jill S
• Wetherbee, Gregory A

Titel

Links between N Deposition and Nitrate Export from a High-Elevation Watershed in the Colorado Front Range

Ist Teil von

• Environmental science & technology, 2014-12, Vol.48 (24), p.14258-14265

Ort / Verlag

Washington, DC: American Chemical Society

Erscheinungsjahr

2014

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Long-term patterns of stream nitrate export and atmospheric N deposition were evaluated over three decades in Loch Vale, a high-elevation watershed in the Colorado Front Range. Stream nitrate concentrations increased in the early 1990s, peaked in the mid-2000s, and have since declined by over 40%, coincident with trends in nitrogen oxide emissions over the past decade. Similarities in the timing and magnitude of N deposition provide evidence that stream chemistry is responding to changes in atmospheric deposition. The response to deposition was complicated by a drought in the early 2000s that enhanced N export for several years. Other possible explanations, including forest disturbance, snow depth, or permafrost melting, could not explain patterns in N export. Our results show that stream chemistry responds rapidly to changes in N deposition in high-elevation watersheds, similar to the response observed to changes in sulfur deposition.