Galloway, J. N., H. Levy II, and P. S. Kasibhatla, 1994: Year 2020: Consequences of population growth and development on deposition of oxidized nitrogen. AMBIO, 23(2), 120-123.

Abstract: With a current world population of 5.3 billion, fossil fuel and biomass burning have already greatly increased the emission of fixed nitrogen to the global atmosphere. In 2020, with a projected population of 8.5 billion and an assumed 100% increase in per capita energy consumption relative to 1980 by the lesser developed countries, we predict an approximate 25% increase in total nitrogen deposition in the more-developed-country source regions such as North America. In addition, reactive nitrogen deposition will at least double in less-developed regions, such as SE Asia and Latin America, and will increasae by more than 50% over the oceans of the Northern Hemisphere. Although we also predict significant increases in the deposition of nitrogen from fossil-fuel sources over most of the Southern Hemisphere, particularly Africa, the tropical eastern Pacific, and the southern Atlantic and Indian Oceans, biomass burning and the natiral sources of nitrogen oxides (lightning and biogenic soil emissions) are also important in these regions. This increased deposition has the potential to fertilize both terrstrial and marine ecosystems, resulting in the sequestering of carbon. Increases in nitrogen deposition have also been shown not only to acidify ecosystems but also to increase emissions of nitric oxide (NO), nitrous oxide (N₂O), carbonyl sulfide (COS), and carbon + sulfur (CS₂) to the atmosphere and decrease methane (CH₄) consumption in forest soils. We also find that the atmospheric levels of nitrogen oxides increase significantly throughout much of the Northern Hemisphere and populated regions of the Southern Hemisphere. This increase may lead to larger ozone concentrations with resulting increases in the oxidative capacity of the remote atmosphere and in its ability to absorb IR radiation.