The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) recently convened a federal working group to address the linkages between climate and nitrogen pollution in the environment. The goal of the group is to leverage and coordinate federal (NOAA, EPA, USGS, USDA, DOE, NSF) intramural and extramural research activities to enhance the knowledge base on this issue.
Nitrogen biogeochemistry affects global climate change processes (e.g N2O is a greenhouse gas), but at the same time nitrogen pollution, which can lead to eutrophication, is impacted by climate (e.g. precipitation amounts and runoff). National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science staff joined this working group at its inception and attended the first in-person meeting of the working group, held at USGCRP headquarters in Washington, DC on May 29th, 2013.
For more information, please contact Dr. dave.whitall@noaa.gov