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Bealey, W.J.; Martin Hernandez, C.; Vigier, A.; Levy, P.E.; Stedman, J.R.

Deposition and concentration of nitrogen and sulphur for protected sites in the UK, 2018-2020

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THIS DATASET HAS BEEN WITHDRAWN

A mapping error occurred in the ammonia data of CBED 2018-2020. This also translates to an error in total nitrogen deposition.

The origin of the error is an R software update problem using the library 'proj4' to project to British National Grid which did not project correctly. Further QC checks have been put in place to help prevent this type of error occurring again. As an update, CBED and APIS - 2019-2021 will be published soon (see https://www.apis.ac.uk/revised-APIS-2019 )

If you need access to the archived version, please contact the EIDC

https://doi.org/10.5285/f83a56ef-15ad-4270-aefd-a6ef4b24b4ee
This dataset provides deposition values of sulphur and nitrogen deposition, deposition of non-marine base cations and concentration values for ammonia (NH3), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) on the UK nature conservation protected sites, averaged over the years 2018 to 2020. The dataset also includes calculated minimum, maximum and gridded average values for each site. Protected nature sites covered are:
(i) Special Areas of Conservation (SAC)
(ii) Special Protection Areas (SPA)
(iii) Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

The data consist of values of nitrogen and acid deposition, non-marine base cations deposition, and concentrations of ammonia (NH3) based on the Concentration Based Estimated Deposition (CBED), and concentrations of NOx and SO2 using the Pollution Climate Mapping (PCM) model.

Nitrogen and acid deposition data is also given for specific habitat types including:
(i) moorland/short vegetation everywhere,
(ii) forest everywhere, and
(iii) the grid square average over multiple land cover types (i.e. arable, grassland, forest, moorland, urban)

These habitat-specific data are recommended for use with critical loads for the calculation of critical load exceedances using the relevant deposition/habitat type.
Publication date: 2022-09-05
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More information

View numbers valid from 01 June 2023 (information prior to this was not collected)

Format

Comma-separated values (CSV)

Spatial information

Study area
Spatial representation type
Tabular (text)
Spatial reference system
OSGB 1936 / British National Grid

Temporal information

Temporal extent
2018-01-01    to    2020-12-31

Provenance & quality

The Air Pollution Information System (APIS), through the 'Site Relevant Critical Loads' tool and APIS new mapping interface, provides critical loads for acidity and nitrogen and critical levels for ammonia, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides for designated features within every SAC, SPA or A/SSSI in the UK. In addition, deposition and concentration data for nitrogen, sulphur pollutants and non-marine base cations are provided at each site to give an estimate of critical load/level exceedance.

The data provided is based on pollutant deposition gridded maps for nitrogen and acid deposition and concentration maps of ammonia, nitrogen oxides, sulphur and non-marine base cations, which are overlayed to a GIS shape file of site boundaries in the UK (e.g. SAC, SPA, SSSI). These gridded maps were then clipped to provide the pollutant values for each grid square including the area of the clipped grid. The resulting data was then queried to generate site statistics in the form of a minimum, maximum and area weighted average values for each of the pollutants.

For nitrogen and acid deposition values, base cations deposition and ammonia concentrations, 3 year average pollutant maps were used at a resolution of 1 x 1 km from the CBED model for the years 2018-2020. For nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide concentrations the 1 x 1 km PCM model was used based on the 3 year average (2018-2020). Deposition values are generated for specific habitat types (forest and semi-natural) to be used in critical load exceedance calculations.

The full methodology is available in the contextual metadata available with this dataset.

The work of APIS is jointly funded between the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and the UK pollution and conservation agencies including Natural Resources Wales (NRW), the Environment Agency, Northern Ireland Environment Agency, Natural England, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), and Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH).

Licensing and constraints

THIS DATASET HAS BEEN WITHDRAWN

A mapping error occurred in the ammonia data of CBED 2018-2020. This also translates to an error in total nitrogen deposition.

The origin of the error is an R software update problem using the library 'proj4' to project to British National Grid which did not project correctly. Further QC checks have been put in place to help prevent this type of error occurring again. As an update, CBED and APIS - 2019-2021 will be published soon (see https://www.apis.ac.uk/revised-APIS-2019 )

If you need access to the archived version, please contact the EIDC

This dataset is available under the terms of the Open Government Licence

Cite this dataset as:
Bealey, W.J.; Martin Hernandez, C.; Vigier, A.; Levy, P.E.; Stedman, J.R. (2022). Deposition and concentration of nitrogen and sulphur for protected sites in the UK, 2018-2020. NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/f83a56ef-15ad-4270-aefd-a6ef4b24b4ee

© UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Natural Resources Wales, Environment Agency, the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, Natural England, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), Scotland and Northern Ireland Forum for Environmental Research (SNIFFER), the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH)

Correspondence/contact details

Martin Hernandez, C.
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Bush Estate
Penicuik
Midlothian
EH26 0QB
UNITED KINGDOM
 enquiries@ceh.ac.uk

Authors

Bealey, W.J.
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Martin Hernandez, C.
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Vigier, A.
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Levy, P.E.
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Stedman, J.R.
Ricardo Energy & Environment

Other contacts

Rights holders
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Natural Resources Wales, Environment Agency, Northern Ireland Environment Agency, Natural England, Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Scotland and Northern Ireland Forum for Environmental Research (SNIFFER), Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Scottish Natural Heritage
Custodian
NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre
 info@eidc.ac.uk
Publisher
NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre
 info@eidc.ac.uk

Additional metadata

Topic categories
environment
INSPIRE theme
Environmental Monitoring Facilities
Keywords
ammonia , nitrogen , pollutant deposition , Pollution , sulphate
Funding
Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs
Last updated
08 April 2025 10:39