On the natural spatio-temporal heterogeneity of South Pacific nitrous oxide
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s41467-020-17509-6.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
3.88 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
37bc1456320050c869daf8c2f6032e3c
Author(s)
Babbin, Andrew R
Boles, Elisabeth L
Mühle, Jens
Weiss, Ray F
Date Issued
2020
Journal
Nature Communications
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Version
Final published version
Abstract
© 2020, The Author(s). Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a powerful greenhouse gas and ozone depleting substance, but its natural sources, especially marine emissions, are poorly constrained. Localized high concentrations have been observed in the oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) of the tropical Pacific but the impacts of El Niño cycles on this key source region are unknown. Here we show atmospheric monitoring station measurements in Samoa combined with atmospheric back-trajectories provide novel information on N2O variability across the South Pacific. Remarkable elevations in Samoan concentrations are obtained in air parcels that pass over the OMZ. The data further reveal that average concentrations of these OMZ air parcels are augmented during La Niña and decrease sharply during El Niño. The observed natural spatial heterogeneities and temporal dynamics in marine N2O emissions can confound attempts to develop future projections of this climatically active gas as low oxygen zones are predicted to expand and El Niño cycles change.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17509-6
