From November 1989 to March 1992, the German Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) carried out surveys of major physical and chemical parameters in the German Bight in connection with the TUVAS project ('Transport, transfer and variability of contaminants and nutrients in the German Bight'). During roughly the same period, the interdisciplinary research project 'Processes influencing contaminant fluxes in the North Sea (PRISMA)' performed continuous measurements of atmospheric nutrient and contaminant deposition and numerical experiments with atmospheric, hydrodynamic and ecosystem models. Results from both projects, together with available information on river loads and data from the literature on sediment fluxes made it possible to construct nitrogen budgets for the German Bight during the period of the TUVAS surveys. Comparing the mean annual input fluxes, the major nitrogen flux into the water of the German Bight was from rivers (around 70%). The atmospheric contribution was around 30%.