Nitrogen cycle in the Earth climatic system and its modeling

Abstract

Investigations into the nitrogen cycle in the climatic system of the earth are reviewed with special emphasis on the biospheric nitrogen cycle. Approaches to modeling the biogeochemical nitrogen turnover are described. Excluding the nitrogen cycle from consideration when probable consequences of climate change are analyzed can lead to inaccurate estimates of the ecosystem response, in particular, for regions where mineral compounds of soil nitrogen are a limiting factor for the development of vegetation cover. Numerical experiments with climatic models point to a substantial influence of the nitrogen turnover on the feedback between climatic characteristics and the carbon cycle. Models of the combined dynamics of carbon and nitrogen make it possible to obtain realistic estimates of present-day resources and fluxes of these elements in ecosystems, as well as to estimate their changes during possible climatic changes.