How Does Nitrogen Affect the Planet?
Odds are that you haven't thought much about nitrogen, but perhaps you should. Nitrogen is essential to life: all nucleic acids and amino acids-the building blocks for DNA and proteins-contain nitrogen.
Nitrogen makes up about 78 percent of our atmosphere. But most forms of life cannot use it in this molecular form. Natural usable forms are created by bacteria, which turn nitrogen into ammonia, and lightning, which creates nitric oxide. With industrialization, humans have learned how to produce usable forms. Fertilizers, for example, which contain a large amount of nitrogen, are manufactured through an artificial process similar to the one carried out by bacteria. And burning fossil fuels creates nitrogen oxides in a way similar to that of lightning.
Human-made nitrogen compounds can be beneficial-as in the case of fertilizers for crops, or not-as in the case of smog, acid rain, and greenhouse gases. Canada Research Chair Jennifer Murphy wants us to know more about the nature and extent of the negative impacts of human-made nitrogen.
Murphy measures trace atmospheric nitrogen compounds in various settings, such as above a snow pack, a forest, or a farmer's field. She not only quantifies nitrogen emissions, but also looks for where the emissions end up. Her research is helping to eliminate the many uncertainties that exist regarding the magnitude and distribution of nitrogen emissions in the atmosphere and their subsequent processing, dispersal, and deposition.
The significance of Murphy's research is undeniable; the observations she and her research group make of human-made nitrogen compounds in the environment will be crucial to developing policies that better address climate change, pollution, and resource management.