Water and nitrate fluxes at a forest site in the North Tyrolean Limestone Alps.

The water balance for the site Mühleggerköpfl in the North Tyrolean Limestone Alps has been established to a soil depth of 50 cm. The evaporation amounts to 42% and deep percolation is 58% of the precipitation. The surface runoff was negligible and therefore the according nitrate fluxes as welL Soil water analysis revealed mean nitrate concentrations of 3 to 15 mg NO3 L(-1), depending on soil depth. The nitrate concentrations at 50 cm soil depth and the associated percolation rates led to NO3-N outputs of 15.9 kg NO3-N ha(-1) in the year 1999 and 7.9 kg NO3-N ha(-1) in the year 2000.