SLU researchers receive award for best article on nutrient leaching to water

The article is awarded the JEQ Best Paper Award for having advanced the knowledge in environmental science, the originality of the work and the effectiveness of communication. In addition, the article's impact as measured by number of citations and downloads was also a factor.

Behind the article are the researchers Barbro Ulén, Elisabet Lewan, Katarina Kyllmar, Maria Blomberg and Stefan Andersson from the Department of Soil and Environment at SLU.

– We are really happy to receive this award! We are very satisfied with this work ourselves which demonstrates how much we depend on the climate, says Barbro Ulén.

Climate phenomena defines nutrient leaching

The North Atlantic oscillation is a climatic phenomenon of the North Atlantic region. Differences in climate from year to year are due to small fluctuations in pressure differences. This phenomenon has a huge impact on the winter climate in North Western Europe.

– In the article we demonstrate how the intensity of the North Atlantic oscillation, expressed as an index, decide nutrient leaching from arable land to water and also the effect of mitigation measures, says Barbro.

– A prerequisite for our work has been the long time series of data provided by the environmental monitoring programmes in small agricultural catchments and on individual agricultural fields. The surveys provide a basis for finding the connections between climate, soil properties, cultivation and nutrient losses, says Katarina Kyllmar.