ANICE - Atmospheric Nitrogen Inputs into the Coastal Ecosystem

The overall aim of the ANICE project was to improve model tools available for estimating atmospheric nitrogen deposition to sea. The project focussed on atmospheric inputs of nitrogen compounds (HNO3, NO3- NH3 and NH4+). The coastal areas of the southern North Sea were studied as a prototype.

ANICE was a combination of experimental and modelling work, involving a close collaboration between experimentalists and modellers to their mutual benefit. Two complementary models were applied: one to estimate atmospheric inputs of nitrogen to the total North Sea, the other enabled detailed studies of the coastal area. The combined modelling effort was expected to lead to a major improvement of the final result, i.e. an estimate of atmospheric inputs into the North Sea, that can be used in effect studies.

Because the processes were described by physical equations and chemical reactions, as opposed to empirical relations, the results can also be applied to other regional seas like the Mediterranean, the North Atlantic continental shelf area and the Baltic.