Detection of temporal trends in atmospheric deposition of inorganic nitrogen and sulphate to forests in Europe

Peter Waldner; Aldo Marchetto; Anne Thimonier; Maria Schmitt; Michela Rogora; Oliver Granke; Volker Mues; Karin Hansen; Gunilla Pihl Karlsson; Daniel Zlindra; Nicholas Clarke; Arne Verstraeten; Andis Lazdins; Claus Schimming; Carmen Iacoban; Antti-Jussi Lindroos; Elena Vanguelova; Sue Benham; Henning Meesenburg; Manuel Nicholas; Anna Kowalska; Vladislav Apuhtin; Ulle Napa; Zora Lachmanova; Ferdinand Kristoefel; Albert Bleeker; Morten Ingerslev; Lars Vesterdal; Juan Molina; Uwe Fischer; Walter Seidling; Mathieu Jonard; Philip O'Dea; James Johnson; Richard Fischer; Martin Lorenz

doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2014.06.054

Detection of temporal trends in atmospheric deposition of inorganic nitrogen and sulphate to forests in Europe

Peter Waldner, Aldo Marchetto, Anne Thimonier, Maria Schmitt, Michela Rogora, Oliver Granke, Volker Mues, Karin Hansen, Gunilla Pihl Karlsson, Daniel Zlindra, Nicholas Clarke, Arne Verstraeten, Andis Lazdins, Claus Schimming, Carmen Iacoban, Antti-Jussi Lindroos, Elena Vanguelova, Sue Benham, Henning Meesenburg, Manuel NicholasAnna Kowalska, Vladislav Apuhtin, Ulle Napa, Zora Lachmanova, Ferdinand Kristoefel, Albert Bleeker, Morten Ingerslev, Lars Vesterdal, Juan Molina, Uwe Fischer, Walter Seidling, Mathieu Jonard, Philip O'Dea, James Johnson, Richard Fischer, Martin Lorenz

Forest, Nature and Biomass

109 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Atmospheric deposition to forests has been monitored within the International Cooperative Programme on Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forests (ICP Forests) with sampling and analyses of bulk precipitation and throughfall at several hundred forested plots for more than 15 years. The current deposition of inorganic nitrogen (nitrate and ammonium) and sulphate is highest in central Europe as well as in some southern regions. We compared linear regression and Mann-Kendall trend analysis techniques often used to detect temporal trends in atmospheric deposition. The choice of method influenced the number of significant trends. Detection of trends was more powerful using monthly data compared to annual data. The slope of a trend needed to exceed a certain minimum in order to be detected despite the short-term variability of deposition. This variability could to a large extent be explained by meteorological processes, and the minimum slope of detectable trends was thus similar across sites and many ions. The overall decreasing trends for inorganic nitrogen and sulphate in the decade to 2010 were about 2% and 6%, respectively. Time series of about 10 and 6 years were required to detect significant trends in inorganic nitrogen and sulphate on a single plot. The strongest decreasing trends were observed in western central Europe in regions with relatively high deposition fluxes, whereas stable or slightly increasing deposition during the last 5 years was found east of the Alpine region as well as in northern Europe. Past reductions in anthropogenic emissions of both acidifying and eutrophying compounds can be confirmed due to the availability of long-term data series but further reductions are required to reduce deposition to European forests to levels below which significant harmful effects do not occur according to present knowledge.

Original language	English
Journal	Atmospheric Environment
Volume	95
Pages (from-to)	363-374
Number of pages	12
ISSN	1352-2310
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2014.06.054
Publication status	Published - Oct 2014

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10.1016/j.atmosenv.2014.06.054

Waldner et al. 2014

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Waldner, P., Marchetto, A., Thimonier, A., Schmitt, M., Rogora, M., Granke, O., Mues, V., Hansen, K., Karlsson, G. P., Zlindra, D., Clarke, N., Verstraeten, A., Lazdins, A., Schimming, C., Iacoban, C., Lindroos, A-J., Vanguelova, E., Benham, S., Meesenburg, H., ... Lorenz, M. (2014). Detection of temporal trends in atmospheric deposition of inorganic nitrogen and sulphate to forests in Europe. Atmospheric Environment, 95, 363-374. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2014.06.054

Waldner, P, Marchetto, A, Thimonier, A, Schmitt, M, Rogora, M, Granke, O, Mues, V, Hansen, K, Karlsson, GP, Zlindra, D, Clarke, N, Verstraeten, A, Lazdins, A, Schimming, C, Iacoban, C, Lindroos, A-J, Vanguelova, E, Benham, S, Meesenburg, H, Nicholas, M, Kowalska, A, Apuhtin, V, Napa, U, Lachmanova, Z, Kristoefel, F, Bleeker, A, Ingerslev, M , Vesterdal, L, Molina, J, Fischer, U, Seidling, W, Jonard, M, O'Dea, P, Johnson, J, Fischer, R & Lorenz, M 2014, 'Detection of temporal trends in atmospheric deposition of inorganic nitrogen and sulphate to forests in Europe', Atmospheric Environment, vol. 95, pp. 363-374. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2014.06.054

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title = "Detection of temporal trends in atmospheric deposition of inorganic nitrogen and sulphate to forests in Europe",

abstract = "Atmospheric deposition to forests has been monitored within the International Cooperative Programme on Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forests (ICP Forests) with sampling and analyses of bulk precipitation and throughfall at several hundred forested plots for more than 15 years. The current deposition of inorganic nitrogen (nitrate and ammonium) and sulphate is highest in central Europe as well as in some southern regions. We compared linear regression and Mann-Kendall trend analysis techniques often used to detect temporal trends in atmospheric deposition. The choice of method influenced the number of significant trends. Detection of trends was more powerful using monthly data compared to annual data. The slope of a trend needed to exceed a certain minimum in order to be detected despite the short-term variability of deposition. This variability could to a large extent be explained by meteorological processes, and the minimum slope of detectable trends was thus similar across sites and many ions. The overall decreasing trends for inorganic nitrogen and sulphate in the decade to 2010 were about 2% and 6%, respectively. Time series of about 10 and 6 years were required to detect significant trends in inorganic nitrogen and sulphate on a single plot. The strongest decreasing trends were observed in western central Europe in regions with relatively high deposition fluxes, whereas stable or slightly increasing deposition during the last 5 years was found east of the Alpine region as well as in northern Europe. Past reductions in anthropogenic emissions of both acidifying and eutrophying compounds can be confirmed due to the availability of long-term data series but further reductions are required to reduce deposition to European forests to levels below which significant harmful effects do not occur according to present knowledge.",

author = "Peter Waldner and Aldo Marchetto and Anne Thimonier and Maria Schmitt and Michela Rogora and Oliver Granke and Volker Mues and Karin Hansen and Karlsson, {Gunilla Pihl} and Daniel Zlindra and Nicholas Clarke and Arne Verstraeten and Andis Lazdins and Claus Schimming and Carmen Iacoban and Antti-Jussi Lindroos and Elena Vanguelova and Sue Benham and Henning Meesenburg and Manuel Nicholas and Anna Kowalska and Vladislav Apuhtin and Ulle Napa and Zora Lachmanova and Ferdinand Kristoefel and Albert Bleeker and Morten Ingerslev and Lars Vesterdal and Juan Molina and Uwe Fischer and Walter Seidling and Mathieu Jonard and Philip O'Dea and James Johnson and Richard Fischer and Martin Lorenz",

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T1 - Detection of temporal trends in atmospheric deposition of inorganic nitrogen and sulphate to forests in Europe

AU - Waldner, Peter

AU - Marchetto, Aldo

AU - Thimonier, Anne

AU - Schmitt, Maria

AU - Rogora, Michela

AU - Granke, Oliver

AU - Mues, Volker

AU - Hansen, Karin

AU - Karlsson, Gunilla Pihl

AU - Zlindra, Daniel

AU - Clarke, Nicholas

AU - Verstraeten, Arne

AU - Lazdins, Andis

AU - Schimming, Claus

AU - Iacoban, Carmen

AU - Lindroos, Antti-Jussi

AU - Vanguelova, Elena

AU - Benham, Sue

AU - Meesenburg, Henning

AU - Nicholas, Manuel

AU - Kowalska, Anna

AU - Apuhtin, Vladislav

AU - Napa, Ulle

AU - Lachmanova, Zora

AU - Kristoefel, Ferdinand

AU - Bleeker, Albert

AU - Ingerslev, Morten

AU - Vesterdal, Lars

AU - Molina, Juan

AU - Fischer, Uwe

AU - Seidling, Walter

AU - Jonard, Mathieu

AU - O'Dea, Philip

AU - Johnson, James

AU - Fischer, Richard

AU - Lorenz, Martin

PY - 2014/10

Y1 - 2014/10

N2 - Atmospheric deposition to forests has been monitored within the International Cooperative Programme on Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forests (ICP Forests) with sampling and analyses of bulk precipitation and throughfall at several hundred forested plots for more than 15 years. The current deposition of inorganic nitrogen (nitrate and ammonium) and sulphate is highest in central Europe as well as in some southern regions. We compared linear regression and Mann-Kendall trend analysis techniques often used to detect temporal trends in atmospheric deposition. The choice of method influenced the number of significant trends. Detection of trends was more powerful using monthly data compared to annual data. The slope of a trend needed to exceed a certain minimum in order to be detected despite the short-term variability of deposition. This variability could to a large extent be explained by meteorological processes, and the minimum slope of detectable trends was thus similar across sites and many ions. The overall decreasing trends for inorganic nitrogen and sulphate in the decade to 2010 were about 2% and 6%, respectively. Time series of about 10 and 6 years were required to detect significant trends in inorganic nitrogen and sulphate on a single plot. The strongest decreasing trends were observed in western central Europe in regions with relatively high deposition fluxes, whereas stable or slightly increasing deposition during the last 5 years was found east of the Alpine region as well as in northern Europe. Past reductions in anthropogenic emissions of both acidifying and eutrophying compounds can be confirmed due to the availability of long-term data series but further reductions are required to reduce deposition to European forests to levels below which significant harmful effects do not occur according to present knowledge.

AB - Atmospheric deposition to forests has been monitored within the International Cooperative Programme on Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forests (ICP Forests) with sampling and analyses of bulk precipitation and throughfall at several hundred forested plots for more than 15 years. The current deposition of inorganic nitrogen (nitrate and ammonium) and sulphate is highest in central Europe as well as in some southern regions. We compared linear regression and Mann-Kendall trend analysis techniques often used to detect temporal trends in atmospheric deposition. The choice of method influenced the number of significant trends. Detection of trends was more powerful using monthly data compared to annual data. The slope of a trend needed to exceed a certain minimum in order to be detected despite the short-term variability of deposition. This variability could to a large extent be explained by meteorological processes, and the minimum slope of detectable trends was thus similar across sites and many ions. The overall decreasing trends for inorganic nitrogen and sulphate in the decade to 2010 were about 2% and 6%, respectively. Time series of about 10 and 6 years were required to detect significant trends in inorganic nitrogen and sulphate on a single plot. The strongest decreasing trends were observed in western central Europe in regions with relatively high deposition fluxes, whereas stable or slightly increasing deposition during the last 5 years was found east of the Alpine region as well as in northern Europe. Past reductions in anthropogenic emissions of both acidifying and eutrophying compounds can be confirmed due to the availability of long-term data series but further reductions are required to reduce deposition to European forests to levels below which significant harmful effects do not occur according to present knowledge.

U2 - 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2014.06.054

DO - 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2014.06.054

M3 - Journal article

SN - 1352-2310

VL - 95

SP - 363

EP - 374

JO - Atmospheric Environment

JF - Atmospheric Environment

ER -

Detection of temporal trends in atmospheric deposition of inorganic nitrogen and sulphate to forests in Europe

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