N water chemistry from small Arctic streams in relation to vegetation cover

In the Arctic, little information is available, especially in terms of N availability and composition (i.e., nitrate, ammonium, and dissolved organic nitrogen) from small, flowing waters. This data set aims to quantify N concentrations across small Arctic streams and explore the link between terrestrial vegetation and stream water N concentration. The data set is the result of a literature study where data on N water chemistry was collected and combined from peer-reviewed, published articles and data sets selected by specific criteria. 20 articles met the selected criteria along with four datasets from databases resulting in a total of 2381 observations on N water chemistry from Arctic flowing waters from 1996 to 2021. Bioclimate subzones, NDVI and phytomass describe vegetation. Data on dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) was scarce: only 161 of the 2381 observations contained DON data. We found that nitrate (NO3-), ammonium (NH4+) and DON ranged undetectable to 1155, 547 and 1587 µg N/l, respectively. We found that sparsely vegetated areas had higher stream water N-concentrations, while barren areas and higher vegetated areas had lower stream water N-concentrations.