Legacy nitrogen may prevent achievement of water quality goals in the Gulf of Mexico

Section 1: Publication

Publication Type

Authorship

Van Meter, K. J., Van Cappellen, P., & Basu, N. B.

Title

Legacy nitrogen may prevent achievement of water quality goals in the Gulf of Mexico

Year

2018

Publication Outlet

Science, 360(6387), 427-430

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aar4462

ISBN

ISSN

Citation

Van Meter, K. J., Van Cappellen, P., & Basu, N. B. (2018). Legacy nitrogen may prevent achievement of water quality goals in the Gulf of Mexico. Science, 360(6387), 427-430. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aar4462

Abstract

In August 2017, the Gulf of Mexico’s hypoxic zone was declared to be the largest ever measured. It has been estimated that a 60% decrease in watershed nitrogen (N) loading may be necessary to adequately reduce eutrophication in the Gulf. However, to date there has been no rigorous assessment of the effect of N legacies on achieving water quality goals. In this study, we show that even if agricultural N use became 100% efficient, it would take decades to meet target N loads due to legacy N within the Mississippi River basin. Our results suggest that both long-term commitment and large-scale changes in agricultural management practices will be necessary to decrease Mississippi N loads and to meet current goals for reducing the size of the Gulf hypoxic zone.

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