Acidity-driven gas-particle partitioning of nitrate regulates its transport to Arctic through the industrial era
Anthropogenic NO<sub>x</sub> emissions have altered the biogeochemical nitrogen cycle since the Industrial Revolution, yet Arctic ice core nitrate (NO<sub>3</sub><sup>-</sup>) records are inconsistent with post-1970s NO<sub>x</sub> emission reductions. Here we show a NO<sub>3</sub><sup>-</sup> deposition history covering 1800-2020 using an ice core from the southeastern Greenland dome with high snow accumulation. The ice core NO<sub>3</sub><sup>-</sup> concentrations are particularly disconnected from NO<sub>x</sub> source regions during the peak pollution period and post-1990s. A global chemical transport model reproduced these discordances between total NO<sub>3</sub><sup>-</sup> and NO<sub>x</sub> emissions by altering gaseous HNO<sub>3</sub> and particulate NO<sub>3</sub><sup>-</sup> (p-NO<sub>3</sub><sup>-</sup>) ratios and subsequently NO<sub>3</sub><sup>-</sup> lifetime. This result and correlations with acidity parameters recorded in the ice core, suggest that acidity-driven gas-particle partitioning of NO<sub>3</sub><sup>-</sup> regulates its transport to Arctic regions alongside changes in NO<sub>x</sub> emissions. In the future, despite NO<sub>x</sub> reductions, the increase in proportion of p-NO<sub>3</sub><sup>-</sup> with longer atmospheric lifetime becomes crucial to control the Arctic NO<sub>3</sub><sup>-</sup> burden.
Authors
- Naga Oshima (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8451-2411)
- Koji Fujita (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3753-4981)
- Kaoru Kawakami (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9711-3762)
- Osamu Seki (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6136-288X)
- Anders Svensson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4364-6085)
- Hiroshi Ohno (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2271-4453)
- Shohei Hattori (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4438-5462)
- Sumito Matoba (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2214-4649)
- Sakiko Ishino (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5897-7063)
- Hitoshi Matsui (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0376-0879)
- Yoshinori Iizuka (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7241-6062)
- Bo Vinther (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6078-771X)
- Ryu Uemura (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4236-0085)
- Andrea Spolaor (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8635-9193)
- Mahiro Sasage
- Mai Matsumoto
Institutions
- Kanazawa University (JP)
- Hokkaido University of Science (JP)
- Kanazawa Institute of Technology (JP)
- Hokkaido University (JP)
- International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (DK)
- National Research Council (IT)
- Meteorological Research Institute (JP)
- Nagoya University (JP)
- Nanjing University (CN)
- Kitami Institute of Technology (JP)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-05-19
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59208-0
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.86
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Environmental Restoration and Conservation Agency
- Institute of Nature and Environmental Technology, Kanazawa University
- Kanazawa University
- Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Nanjing University
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities