ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Nitrogen and Phosphorous in Atmospheric
Deposition and Roof Runoff
Peiqiang Hou, Yufen Ren, Qianqian Zhang, Fei Lu, Zhiyun Ouyang, Xiaoke Wang
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State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2012;21(6):1621-1627
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) were measured in atmospheric deposition and roof runoff in Beijing,
China from May to October 2009. Serious N pollution caused by summer rainfall was found in Beijing. N was
mainly transported in dissolved from, while P was predominantly found in its particle form. Bulk deposition
potentially accounted for as much as 70%, 71%, 97%, and 45% of total nitrogen (TN), dissolved nitrogen
(DN), total phosphorus (TP), and dissolved phosphorous (DP) loads in roof runoff, respectively, indicating that
atmospheric deposition predominantly contributes to roof runoff pollution in Beijing. Moreover, wet deposition
was an important source of TN, DN, and DP, while dry deposition was the main source of TP. N and P
concentrations in roof runoff decreased as the amount of rainfall increased. The monthly loads of N and P in
roof runoff were linearly and positively correlated with the amount of rainfall, indicating that the amount of
rain is an important factor that influences the N and P loads in roof runoff. The positive relationship between
N and P fluxes (load divided by the dry weather period; mg/m2d) and the mean daily rainfall intensity (amount
of rainfall divided by the dry weather period; mm/d) suggest that N and P loads in roof runoff can be estimated
by measuring the amount of rainfall and the antecedent dry weather period.