CRITICAL LOADS OF SULFUR AND NITROGEN FOR LAKES .1. MODEL DESCRIPTION AND ESTIMATION OF UNCERTAINTY

Presently considerable effort is devoted to the development of methods for estimating critical loads of acidic deposition. In this paper a steady-state mass balance model for lakes is presented, allowing the simultaneous calculation of critical loads of acidifying S and N deposition and their exceedance. Special emphasis is given to the derivation of model inputs and parameters and the quantification of their uncertainties. The inclusion of rate-limited processes in the model leads to the dependence of the critical loads not only on catchment properties but also on the loading to the ecosystem. As a consequence, critical load values have to be re-calculated whenever deposition patterns change. The methods presented in this study are used in an accompanying paper to derive regional distributions of critical loads of S and N for lakes in Finland and to quantify their uncertainties.