Environmental Biogeochemistry of Nitrogen in the North Atlantic Region

The watershed of the North Atlantic Ocean was divided into 14 regions. Seven of these regions are in North America, two are in Central and South America, four are in Europe, and one in Africa. Regions are selected to coincide with discrete portions of the coastal ocean (Table 1). 

Overall, these regions make up 18% of the surface area of all land on the Earth and have 15% of the global population. Population density in the regions averages 29 individuals per km. Freshwater discharge from the North Atlantic watershed contributes 30 to 33% of the World s discharge into the oceans, estimated as 42 to 46 x lO L per year. Half of the North Atlantic water discharge comes from the Amazon. 

Caribbean Islands and Central America (incl, Orinoco) 2.28 2.070 75 

Small catchment studies on environmental nitrogen biogeochemistry 

The small catchment is a drainage basin or watershed with surface area usually less 

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