Sensitivity of modelled land use specific nitrogen deposition fluxes to improved process descriptions

Abstract

In this study, the chemistry transport model (CTM) LOTOS-EUROS is used to calculate the deposition fluxes of eutrophying and acidifying reactive nitrogen (Nr) to ecosystems in Germany. In the last years important developments have been made for the modelling of the budget of Nr. The new model version has changed the spatial explicit budget calculations across Germany and was thoroughly evaluated with respect to pollutants concentrations and deposition fluxes. The results revealed that the balance between dry and wet deposition is sensitive to the updates in the process descriptions impacting the pollutants transport distances. A comparison to observations showed an improvement of the new model version compared to the pre-developments model version.