Global forest carbon uptake due to nitrogen and phosphorus deposition from 1850 to 2100

Spatial patterns and temporal trends of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) deposition are important for quantifying their impact on forest carbon (C) uptake. In a first step, we modeled historical and future change in the global distributions of the atmospheric deposition of N and P from the dry and wet deposition of aerosols and gases containing N and P. Future projections were compared between two scenarios with contrasting aerosol emissions. Modeled fields of N and P deposition and P concentration were evaluated using globally distributed in situ measurements. N deposition peaked around 1990 in European forests and around 2010 in East Asian forests, and both increased sevenfold relative to 1850. P deposition peaked around 2010 in South Asian forests and increased 3.5-fold relative to 1850. In a second step, we estimated the change in C storage in forests due to the fertilization by deposited N and P (∆C_{ν dep}), based on the retention of deposited nutrients, their allocation within plants, and C:N and C:P stoichiometry. ∆C_{ν dep} for 1997–2013 was estimated to be 0.27 ± 0.13 Pg C year⁻¹ from N and 0.054 ± 0.10 Pg C year⁻¹ from P, contributing 9% and 2% of the terrestrial C sink, respectively. Sensitivity tests show that uncertainty of ∆C_{ν dep} was larger from P than from N, mainly due to uncertainty in the fraction of deposited P that is fixed by soil. ∆C_{P dep} was exceeded by ∆C_{N dep} over 1960–2007 in a large area of East Asian and West European forests due to a faster growth in N deposition than P. Our results suggest a significant contribution of anthropogenic P deposition to C storage, and additional sources of N are needed to support C storage by P in some Asian tropical forests where the deposition rate increased even faster for P than for N.