PINETI-4: Modelling and assessment of acidifying and eutrophying atmospheric deposition to terrestrial ecosystems

Abstract

Biodiversity in Europe is strongly affected by atmospheric nitrogen and sulfur deposition to ecosystems. Within the PINETI-4 (Pollutant Input and Ecosystem Impact) project the deposition of nitrogen and sulfur compounds across Germany was quantified for the years 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015 to 2019, using the atmospheric chemical transport model LOTOS-EUROS and precipitation composition measurements. Model improvements lead to better evaluation scores in comparison to observations compared to the previous PINETI-3 report. While nitrogen deposition has been decreasing in the last decades, the results show that in 2019 critical loads for eutrophication were still exceeded for nearly 70 % of ecosystems.