Overview of the Center

The North American Nitrogen Center, established early in 2004 and currently directed by Alan Townsend at the University of Colorado, is one of five globally distributed centers of the International Nitrogen Initiative (INI) sponsored by the International Council of Science (ICSU) through the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) and the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP). Globally, the nitrogen cycle is the most altered of any major element cycle. Human activity has doubled the rate of formation of reactive nitrogen over natural rates on the land surfaces of the Earth. The change is recent and rapid, making accelerated nitrogen cycling one of the most immediate and consequential facets of global change. The North American Nitrogen Center is charged with assessing how human activity has altered nitrogen flows within North America, determining the consequences of this alteration, and helping to develop solutions to reduce the problem.

Goals

• To better assess the sources of nitrogen pollution and the drivers of change in the nitrogen cycling across the regions of North America, with an emphasis on evaluating trends in fluxes and environmental exposure.

• To comprehensively and quantitatively assess both the ecological and human health consequences of nitrogen pollution in North America.

• To develop policy options for reducing nitrogen pollution and to encourage large scale pilot studies to test potential policies and technical solutions.

• To communicate the issues of human acceleration of the nitrogen cycle to the public and to decision makers, and to facilitate communication and interaction among the scientific community.

Collaboration