
Jan Willem ErismanLeiden University | LEI · Institute of Environmental Sciences
Jan Willem Erisman
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Publications (390)
Deposition of reactive nitrogen causes detrimental environmental effects, including biodiversity loss, eutrophication, and soil acidification. Measuring and modeling the biosphere-atmosphere exchange of ammonia, the most abundant reduced nitrogen species, is complex due to its high reactivity and solubility, often leading to systematic discrepancie...
This paper describes a neural network cloud masking scheme from PARASOL (Polarization and Anisotropy of Reflectances for Atmospheric Science coupled with Observations from a Lidar) multi-angle polarimetric measurements. The algorithm has been trained on synthetic measurements and has been applied to the processing of 1 year of PARASOL data. Compari...
Natuurinclusieve landbouw wordt vaak genoemd maar is slecht omschreven. Voor toetsing van een uitzonderingspositie in het kader van de Omgevingsverordening Veehouderij is een duidelijker toetsingskader voorgesteld.
This paper describes a neural network cloud masking scheme from PARASOL (Polarisation and Anisotropy of Reflectances for Atmospheric Science coupled with Observations from a Lidar) Multi-Angle Polarimetric measurements. The algorithm has been trained on synthetic measurements and has been applied to the processing of one year of PARASOL data. Compa...
Grass nitrogen (N) concentrations of dairy grasslands are higher on peat soil than on mineral soils. This can lead to increased N losses to air and water from dairy farming systems on peat soils. Our hypothesis was that the use of low-N perennial ryegrass ( Lolium perenne L.) genotypes could be a means to lower grass N concentrations, when grown on...
Nitrogen is the most crucial element in the production of nutritious feeds and foods. The production of reactive nitrogen by means of fossil fuel has thus far been able to guarantee the protein supply for the world population. Yet, the production and massive use of fertilizer nitrogen constitute a major threat in terms of environmental health and s...
Ammonia is a form of reactive nitrogen whose emissions are primarily from livestock excreta and crop fertilisation. Atmospheric ammonia is a major source of anthropogenic aerosols, and can negatively impact both human and ecosystem health. Despite its importance, rates of ammonia emission remain highly uncertain at all spatial scales, local to glob...
Net Ecosystem Production (NEP) of forests is the net carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes between land and the atmosphere due to forests' biogeochemical processes. NEP varies with natural drivers such as precipitation, air temperature, solar radiation, plant functional type (PFT), and soil texture, which affect the gross primary production and ecosystem res...
Atmospheric levels of ammonia (NH3) have substantially increased during the last century, posing a hazard to both human health and environmental quality. The atmospheric budget of NH3, however, is still highly uncertain due to an overall lack of observations. Satellite observations of atmospheric NH3 may help us in the current observational and kno...
In the last decades environmental degradation has increased rapidly throughout the world. This has manifested, among others, in a decline in biodiversity, low chemical, physical and biological soil quality, climate change and contaminated waters. The need to halt further degradation and restore the environment is high. Measures taken so far have no...
Atmospheric reactive nitrogen (N) deposition is an important driver of carbon (C) sequestration in forest ecosystems. Previous studies have focused on N-C interactions in various ecosystems; however, relatively little is known about the impact of N deposition on ecosystem C cycling during climate extremes such as droughts. With the occurrence and s...
It is cheaper to cut ammonia emission now than to deal with its consequences later
More food and energy allow for more people who then require more food and energy, and so it has gone for centuries. At the same time, economic progress leads to a different lifestyle with an increasing demand for energy and food, also accelerating food waste. Fueling this food-energy-population dynamic is an ever-increasing conversion of unreactive...
Atmospheric levels of ammonia (NH3) have substantially increased during the last century, posing a hazard to both human health and environmental quality. The atmospheric budget of NH3, however, is still highly uncertain due to an overall lack of observations. Satellite observations of atmospheric NH3 may help us in the current observational and kno...
Excess reactive nitrogen (Nr) in the global system has led to a wide variety of environmental and human health problems. To minimize the negative impacts of nitrogen loss from agriculture, we need to develop more sustainable farming systems that can efficiently produce food for humans while balancing ecological functioning and reducing Nr losses. T...
In the discussion about food and the environment, most focus is on climate and nutrients. Food in relation to human health is an issue that gets much less attention. But what is healthy food and how can we couple food, health, and the environment more strongly to reach a more integral approach from a system perspective? Here I will discuss the pote...
This special issue presents the outcomes from “Designing sustainable and circular agricultural systems for the year 2100,” the joint scientific workshop of ISOFAR, the Thünen-Institute, and INRA-Morocco, which was held from November 14 to 16, 2019 in Marrakesh, Morocco. Nineteen scientists from a broad array of background and nationalities came tog...
- Human activities have increased the levels of reactive nitrogen (Nr) in our environment, with detrimental effects on biodiversity, climate, water quality, air pollution, … and human health.
- The biggest contributor to this surplus in Nr is the agriculture needed to support our current dietary habits, which are highly focused on animal protein.
-...
With climate change now firmly on the political agenda of many countries, the Netherlands is adding another issue to its agenda: the nitrogen crisis. While reactive nitrogen is naturally present at low levels and essential to life, human activities have caused a surplus in reactive Nitrogen, negatively impacting water quality, air quality, soil deg...
Excess atmospheric ammonia (NH3) leads to deleterious effects on biodiversity, ecosystems, air quality and health, and it is therefore essential to monitor its budget and temporal evolution. Hyperspectral infrared satellite sounders provide daily NH3 observations at global scale for over a decade. Here we use the version 3 of the Infrared Atmospher...
Food production in the Netherlands is an economic success but has led to many environmental issues, including nitrogen pollution. Recently, the policy to allow economic growth while reducing nitrogen losses was disapproved by the highest court in the Netherlands, casting the country into a nitrogen crisis. More integrated policies are necessary for...
In a climate change scenario soil microbial population is affected by the impacts on soil biotic and abiotic factors, with a strong influence on soil microorganisms affecting enzyme production and activity. This influences soil organic matter turnover and nutrient cycling in soil. Nitrogen is one of the most, if not the most important, nutrient for...
Following discussions at the 6th International Nitrogen Conference, Kampala (24th–27th November 2013), the delegates agreed the Kampala Statement-for-Action on Reactive Nitrogen in Africa and Globally. The Statement-for-Action highlights the global challenge of aiming for just enough nitrogen: enough to meet human needs for food, fuel and fibre, wh...
Most global strategies for future food security focus on sustainable intensification of production of food and involve an increase of nitrogen (N) fertilizer use, livestock production and risk of N pollution. In this chapter, we explore the potential of sustainable extensification for agriculture in the European Union (EU) and the Netherlands by an...
Accurate estimates of the quantity and rate of soil nitrogen supply (SNS) are essential to increase soil and farm N use efficiencies, in particular for soils high in organic matter. The objective of this work was to enhance the empirical understanding of the SNS of dairy grasslands on peat soils, using soil properties and weather variables. Data we...
Global livestock supply chains have significantly altered nitrogen (N) flows over past years, thereby threatening environmental and human health. Here, we provide a disaggregated assessment of the livestock sector’s impacts on global N flows and emissions, including international trade. The results show that the sector currently emits 65 Tg N yr⁻¹,...
Na publicatie van zijn eerste adviesrapport op 5 maart 2020 brengt het Adviescollege Meten en Berekenen Stikstof nu zijn eindrapport naar buiten. Taak van het adviescollege was om te beoordelen of de huidige meet- en rekensystematiek voor stikstofemissie en -depositie voldoende wetenschappelijke onderbouwing biedt voor het stikstofbeleid. In de eer...
The nitrogen cycle has been continuously disrupted by human activity over the past century, resulting in almost a tripling of the total reactive nitrogen fixation in Europe. Consequently, excessive amounts of reactive nitrogen (Nr) have manifested in the environment, leading to a cascade of adverse effects, such as acidification and eutrophication...
Stomatal conductance, one of the major plant physiological controls within NH3 biosphere‐atmosphere exchange models, is commonly estimated from semi‐empirical multiplicative schemes or simple light‐ and temperature‐response functions. However, due to their inherent parameterisation on meteorological proxy variables, instead of a direct measure of s...
We estimated the reactive nitrogen (Nr) lost per unit food Nr consumed for organic food production in the United States and compared it to conventional production. We used a nitrogen footprint model approach, which accounts for both differences in Nr losses as well as differences in productivity of the two systems. Additionally, we quantified the t...
Het Adviescollege Meten en Berekenen Stikstof is in december 2019 begonnen aan
de eerste fase van zijn opdracht om advies te geven over de wetenschappelijke kwaliteit van de Nederlandse systematiek voor het meten van en rekenen aan stikstofverbindingen ter onderbouwing van het (toekomstig) beleid van de Rijksoverheid en provincies. Het uitgangspunt...
Reactive nitrogen (N) losses, and in particular nitrous oxide losses, from dairy grasslands on peat soils are generally high as a result of relative high soil organic matter contents, potential N mineralisation rates and shallow groundwater levels. Effects of the inclusion of the temperate forage species plantain (Plantago lanceolata L.) (PL), whic...
Ammonia (NH3) is an essential reactive nitrogen species in the biosphere and through its use in agriculture in the form of fertilizer (important for sustaining humankind). The current emission levels, however, are up to 4 times higher than in the previous century and continue to grow with uncertain consequences to human health and the environment....
The nitrogen cycle has been continuously disrupted by human activity over the past century, resulting in almost a tripling of the total reactive nitrogen fixation in Europe. Consequently, excessive amounts of reactive nitrogen (Nr) have manifested in the environment, leading to a cascade of adverse effects, such as acidification and eutrophication...
Nitrogen is a critical component of the economy, food security, and planetary health. Many of the world's sustainability targets hinge on global nitrogen solutions, which, in turn, contribute lasting benefits for (i) world hunger; (ii) soil, air, and water quality; (iii) climate change mitigation; and (iv) biodiversity conservation. Balancing the p...
Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) are two dominant nutrients regulating the productivity of most terrestrial ecosystems. The growing imbalance of anthropogenic N and P inputs into the future is estimated to exacerbate P limitation on land and limit the land carbon (C) sink, so that we hypothesized that P limitation will increasingly reduce C sequeste...
Ammonia (NH3) is an essential reactive nitrogen species in the biosphere and through its use in agriculture in the form of fertilizer important for sustaining human kind. The current emission levels however, are up to four times higher than in the previous century and continue to grow with uncertain consequences to human health and the environment....
health effects of new technologies
Atmospheric levels of reactive nitrogen have increased substantially during the last century resulting in increased nitrogen deposition to ecosystems, causing harmful effects such as soil acidification, reduction in plant biodiversity and eutrophication in lakes and the ocean. Recent developments in the use of atmospheric remote sensing enabled us...
Atmospheric levels of reactive nitrogen have substantially increased during the last century resulting in increased nitrogen deposition to ecosystems, causing harmful effects such as soil acidification, reduction in plant biodiversity and eutrophication in lakes and the ocean. Recent developments in the use of atmospheric remote sensing enabled us...
he increase in global population and rapid change in human diets are putting enormous pressure on agricultural production, which already has a limited expansion capacity. By outlining possibilities for the sustainable intensification of agriculture, the research community can make a valuable contribution to alleviating some of these environmental e...
The increase in global population and rapid change in human diets are putting enormous pressure on agricultural production, which already has a limited expansion capacity. By outlining possibilities for the sustainable intensification of agriculture, the research community can make a valuable contribution to alleviating some of these environmental...
Reducing nitrogen pollution across the food chain requires the use of clear and comprehensive indicators to track and manage losses. The challenge is to derive an easy-to-use robust nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) indicator for entire food systems to help support policy development, monitor progress and inform consumers. Based on a comparison of four...
Ammonia (NH3) is difficult to monitor at atmospheric concentrations due its high solubility and reactivity and the strong spatial and temporal variations of its concentrations. Monitoring is mostly performed using passive samplers or filter packs with daily coverage at best. Only at a few sites ammonia is measured with more expensive wet chemical o...
Biosphere carbon sinks are crucial for reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration to mitigate global warming, but are substantially affected by the input of reactive nitrogen (Nr). Although the effects of anthropogenic CO2 emission and nitrogen deposition (indicated by Nr emission to atmosphere) on carbon sink have been studied, it is...
Organic agriculture can and should play an important role in solving future challenges in producing food. The low level of external inputs combined with knowledge on sustainablity minimizes environmental contamination and can help to produce more food for more people without negatively impacting our environment. Organic agriculture not only include...
Riverine nitrogen (N) export is a crucial process that links upstream and downstream ecosystems and coastal zones. However, the driving forces of riverine N export that is closely related to water N pollution are still not well understood. In this study, we used a mass balance approach to quantify the sources of N discharge and analyzed the effect...
Presented here is the validation of the CrIS (Cross-track Infrared Sounder) fast physical NH3 retrieval (CFPR) column and profile measurements using ground-based Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) observations. We use the total columns and profiles from seven FTIR sites in the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC) to va...
Global reactive nitrogen emissions into the air have increased to unprecedented levels. Limiting the loss of reactive nitrogen into the environment is one of the major challenges for humankind. At the current levels ammonia (NH3) is a threat to both the environment and human health. However, relatively little is known about the total nitrogen budge...
The implementation of strict emission control measures in Beijing and surrounding regions during the 2015 China Victory Day Parade provided a valuable opportunity to investigate related air quality improvements in a megacity. We measured NH3, NO2 and PM2.5 at multiple sites in and outside Beijing and summarized concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, NO2, S...
Reconciling productive agricultural practices with nature conservation is not only an ecological challenge, but also a demanding matter of governance. This paper analyses the potential as well as the limitations of various governance arrangements, and explores ways to enhance the governance of nature conservation in agricultural landscapes. We assu...
Once upon a time there was enough naturally occurring nitrogen (N) to provide food for the world’s peoples. Then there was not in the western regions. Now there is due to industrially produced NH3. But this transition from plenty, to scarcity, to plenty has come with a tremendous environmental cost. This paper provides an historical overview of the...
The accurate representation of bidirectional ammonia (NH3)
biosphere–atmosphere exchange is an important part of modern air quality
models. However, the cuticular (or external leaf surface) pathway, as well as
other non-stomatal ecosystem surfaces, still pose a major challenge to
translating our knowledge into models. Dynamic mechanistic models inc...
Reconciling productive agricultural practices with nature conservation is not only an ecological challenge, but also a demanding matter of governance. This paper analyses the potential as well as the limitations of various governance arrangements, and explores ways to enhance the governance of nature conservation in agricultural landscapes. We assu...
Nitrogen (N) management presents a sustainability dilemma: N is strongly linked to energy and food production, but excess reactive N causes environmental pollution. The N footprint is an indicator that quantifies reactive N losses to the environment from consumption and production of food and the use of energy. The average per capita N footprint (c...
Global distributions of atmospheric ammonia (NH3)
measured with satellite instruments such as the Infrared Atmospheric
Sounding Interferometer (IASI) contain valuable information on NH3
concentrations and variability in regions not yet covered by ground-based
instruments. Due to their large spatial coverage and (bi-)daily overpasses,
the satellite...
The 'Anthropocene' is now being used as a conceptual frame by different communities and in a variety of contexts to understand the evolving human-environment relationship. However, as we argue in this paper, the notion of an Anthropos, or 'humanity', as global, unified 'geological force' threatens to mask the diversity and differences in the actual...
The accurate representation of bidirectional ammonia (NH3) biosphere-atmosphere exchange is an important part of modern air quality models. However, the cuticular (or external leaf surface) pathway, as well as other non-stomatal ecosystem surfaces, still pose a major challenge of translating our knowledge into models. Dynamic mechanistic models inc...
Sustainable agriculture is an important component of many of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals agreed upon by the UN in 2015 (https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs). However, the trend in agriculture is moving in the opposite, non-sustainable direction. Agriculture is one of the major drivers of biodiversity loss. Next to biodiversity loss...
Global distributions of atmospheric ammonia (NH3) measured with satellite instruments such as the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) contain valuable information on NH3 concentrations and variability in regions not yet covered by ground based instruments. Due to their large spatial coverage and daily observations, the satellite obs...