DEPOSITION AND ATMOSPHERIC NITROGEN CONCENTRATIONS

TRENDS IN CUBA

OSVALDO A. CUESTA SANTOS, PAULO L. ORTIZ BULTO and

MARIA L. GONZALEZ GONZALEZ
Meteorological Institute of Cuban Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, Aptdo 17032,
Habana 17, C. P. 11700, Havana City, Cuba

(Received 26 June, 1996; accepted 25 April, 1997)

Abstract. The NO2 , nitrate and ammonia sampling in aerosols and rainfall was carried out at five
stations located along the Cuban Island from 1986 to 1991. The sampling and chemical analysis were
made mainly on the basis of methodologies recommended by WMO for above mentioned compounds
at regional level. The total deposition of these compounds varies from 0.706 to 3.317 g m 2 yr 1 .
The wet deposition is about of 60%, so that the dry one is 40%. The amount of both depositions
depends on our tropical rainy climate features. For some of these compounds the trend is increasing.
Key words: NO2 , nitrate, ammonium

1. Introduction

Daily, new proofs appear that demonstrate that the acid deposition causes problems
on enviroment. For that, the harmfulness of acid deposition origined by nitrogen’s
oxidized compounds (NOx , HNO3 and NO3 ) is more and more evident in terres-
trial and aquatic ecosystems. In addition, the hydrogen ions replace metallic ones
necessary to nutrition and metabolism of plants. Thus, due to its intensity the acid
deposition can potentially break off the mineral cycle on which the agricultural and
forest yield depends. Acid deposition can lead to appearance of necrotic spots in
the leaves and foliage and affects its growth and photosynthetical activity (Cuesta,
1993).
The acid deposition accelerates the corrosion in most of materials used for
buildings (UNESCO, 1985; Graedel and McGill, 1986; Cuesta, 1992) and can
seriously damage the ancient monuments, historical buildings such as sculptures
and cultural objects (Rodhe and Herrera, 1988; Cuesta et al., 1993).
In mid latitude regions where the anthropogenic emission covers the cycles of
substances such as nitrogen and sulphur, the wet and dry deposition is of comparable
importance. Near sources where the pollutants’ concentration if high, the dry
deposition is relatively more important, but the wet one is being progressively of
great importance on moving off the source (W.M.O., 1982).
In the current paper, the deposition of atmospheric nitrogen compounds as NO2
and nitrate and ammonium in aerosols and rainfall and the trend of its concentrations
is discussed for the period of 1986 to 1991 at several stations along the Island of
Cuba.

Water, Air, and Soil Pollution 106: 163–169, 1998.
c 1998 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.
164 OSVALDO A. CUESTA SANTOS ET AL.

Table I
Characteristics of main air pollution control stations network for the nitrogen
compounds

Name Latitude Longitude Height Classif. Shore

N W (m) distance km

22  46 83  33
0 0
La Palma 47.4 Rural 6.0
23  10 82  21
0 0
Casablanca 50.1 Shore with 1.5
urban inf.
22  41 80  45
0 0
Colón 35.0 Rural 42.0
22  06 78  37
0 0
Falla 15.8 Rural 15.0
20  03 75  49
0 0
Stgo Cuba 38.0 Urban 8.0
residencial

2. Materials and Methods

For preparing the current paper the data from air population control stations’
network of Meteorological Institute of Cuban Ministry of Sciency, Technology
and Environment were used. The work of this network (Table I) is conducted by
methodologies recommended by WMO for monitoring and chemically analyzing
of above mentioned compounds at regional level. Among the studied stations, three
ones present rural characteristics such as La Palma, Colon and Falla and two others
have some urban influence, such as Casablanca and Santiago de Cuba.
For the calculation of wet and dry deposition flows of atmospheric nitrogen, the
concentrations expressed in g/m3 for NO2 , NO3 and NH+ 4 were converted into
N (Nitrogen). Concentrations in rainfall are expressed in mg/l.
For dry deposition flows, because of known deficiencies of existing monitoring
methods, its calculations are obtained through the deposition velocity (Garland,
1979; Meszaros, 1981; W.M.O., 1991a) and the obtained concentrations from
monitoring. For wet deposition flows the mean weighted concentrations for each
year (starting from summary monthly samples) and the rainfall quantity were used.
The deposition flows are expressed in g m 2 yr 1 .
For the concentration trend behaviour two statistic techniques were used. One of
them is aimed at trend’s detection and another one at its modelling. Both techniques
are based on the Kendall-Man test, which allows the short term persistence, to
be determined, as well as to undertake the retrogressive analysis for defining
when the change of trend began. The Kendall-Man test consists in the progressive
determination of the test’s statistics (W.M.O., 1990). For the atmospheric nitrogen
compounds a significant trend has been found, the trend’s equation was obtained
from the simple regression analysis. All methods were performed in SPSS plus
statistic system.
 DEPOSITION AND ATMOSPHERIC NITROGEN CONCENTRATIONS TRENDS IN CUBA 165

Figure 1. Total deposition (dry and wet) of the main compounds of nitrogen.

Another aspect studied was the concentrations’ trend during these years. This
gives information on the behaviour of both natural and anthropogenic sources of
above mentioned elements.

3. Results and Discussion

The total deposition (dry and wet) for main nitrogen compounds at several stations is
reflected in Figure 1. The values expressed in g m 2 yr 1 show that the Casablanca
and Santiago de Cuba stations present higher values mainly at Casablanca where
these values are similar to reported in most of Europe (U.N., 1991). Only in the
large urban and industrialized centers, the deposition in Europe is significantly
higher.
The values at studied stations vary from minimum of 0.706 g m 2 yr 1 recorded
in Santiago de Cuba city in 1989 (very dry year for eastern region) to maximum
of 3.317 g m 2 yr 1 in the same year in Casablanca town where the nitrate and
ammonium concentrations in the rainfall were considerably highest. This maximum
coincides with the growing of the cuban economy up to 1989, as well as with the
increasing generation of pollutants caused by the industry and transportation. In
addition to this, approximately 50% of the nitrogen emitted to atmosphere are
deposited on Earth’s surface by rain (W.M.O., 1991b). For instance, the relative
importance of dry and wet deposition of nitrogen and sulphur’s compounds depends
on many factors such as the climate and surface features in tropical wet areas, where
166 OSVALDO A. CUESTA SANTOS ET AL.

Figure 2. Total deposition for compounds expressed in nitrogen.

the intense rains are of high frequency. Thus, the wet deposition is relatively more
important than the dry one (Garland, 1979).
In Cuba, as found in the studied stations’ data, the nitrogen wet deposition
represents approximately 60%. For our region therefore the wet deposition is con-
sidered significant and also depends on characteristics of our tropical rainy climate.
The largest air-sea flow of oxidized nitrogen occurs in the North Atlantic Ocean,
Europe and Africa (W.M.O., 1991c). The reduced nitrogen forms, mainly NH+ 4
and NH3 , contribute about 40% of N total flow into oceans from the atmosphere
(Galbally and Johansson, 1989).
The values attained for Cuba referring to the main kinds of oxidized nitrogen
show that it represents on average 40%, being higher at those stations with higher
anthropogenic influence (Casablanca and Santiago de Cuba).
The La Palma station (rural) receives the highest contribution of nitrate via
rain; indicating the possibility of transfer from continental sources through kinds
of nitrogen that serve as its reservoirs.
The stations of Colon and Falla recieve the lowest amount of oxidized nitrogen
because of highest power of natural reduced nitrogen kinds’ sources. Figure 2
also shows the contribution of each nitrogen compound in g m 2 yr 1 at studied
stations.
 DEPOSITION AND ATMOSPHERIC NITROGEN CONCENTRATIONS TRENDS IN CUBA 167
Table II
Trend equation fit for nitrogen atmospheric compounds

Station Element – Equation

La Palma NO2 = – 0.02559t + 2.352598

NH+
4 (a) = 0.015722t + 0.407002
NO+
3 (p) = – 0.012721t + 1.254504
Stgo de Cuba NO2 = – 0.027176t + 3.595139
Colón NO2 = 0.010345t + 1.124493
NH+
4 (a) = 0.057033t + 3.568086

Note: Concentrations – g/m3 t – years

Table III
Direction of the trend for nitrogen atmospheric compounds

Stations NO2 NO+

3 (a) NH+
4 (a) NH+
3 (p) NH+
4 (p)

La Palma – + + – +
Casablanca – + + – –
Stgo de Cuba – – + – –
Colón +  + + –
Falla +  + + +


Note: (–) direction to decrease, (+) to increase, ( ) not data

Tables II and III show the compounds’ equations with a significant trend and its
direction in atmospheric nitrogen compounds. As it can be seen for NO2 , the mon-
itoring stations with highest anthropogenic influence as Casablanca and Santiago
de Cuba ones have experienced a trend to concentrations’ decrease because of the
slowing down of the industrial production and transportation means in Cuba since
1989.
This influence seems to also affect the La Palma station which among rural
stations receives the highest oxidated compounds’ deposition.
On the other hand, the Colón rural station presents a significant trend to NO2
concentration increase (Figure 3), as well as the Falla station also experiences
increases. These two rural stations seem to be influenced by the biomass burning
for energy purposes.
The nitrate’s particles experience a trend to increase in La Palma and Casablanca
stations. This has been caused by possible long range transport (Cuesta, 1993) of
substances which serve as reservoirs of NOx .
In addition, the direction of increasing trends in ammonium aerosol amount
becomes interesting in all studied sites, because it reaches a significant trend to
increase in La Palma and Colón rural stations, mainly caused by ammoniac use as
fertilizer over these areas.
168 OSVALDO A. CUESTA SANTOS ET AL.

Figure 3. The NO2 concentrations trend.

Relating to the rainfall, the nitrate has as a similar behaviour as NO2 in these
stations, but only in the La Palma station does the nitrate experience a significant
trend to increase in concentrations, while the ammonium in the rainfall tends only
to increase in La Palma and Falla stations, both considered as rural. In general, the
trend of each of analyzed elements depends on characteristics and intensities of the
sources.

4. Conclusions

In Cuba, the total deposition for main nitrogen compounds varies from 0.706 to
3.317 g m 2 yr 1 . The wet deposition is about 60%, and the dry one is 40%.
The oxidized nitrogen compounds contribute 40% and the reduced ones 60%,
in accordance with natural sources potential depending in Cuba’s tropical rainy
climate.
In the stations with an urban influence, the NO2 trend is similar to the nitrate
trend in the rainfall. In the Colón and Falla rural stations, the monitoring shall
be permanently undertaken due to the trend to increase in nitrogen’s oxidized
compounds concentrations, to determine if a future potential danger exists for
agricultural regions.
 DEPOSITION AND ATMOSPHERIC NITROGEN CONCENTRATIONS TRENDS IN CUBA 169
Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Mrs. Ivonne Suárez Rousseaoux, technician, and to Mr. Fidel
Yllarza Rodrı́guez (m.A.) for his English version of this manuscript.

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