Nitrous oxide emissions 1999 to 2009 from a global atmospheric inversion
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Thompson-2014-Nitrous oxide emissi.pdf
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1.21 MB
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Checksum (MD5)
1796914e053467a526012b6170678c8e
Author(s)
Thompson, R. L.
Chevallier, F.
Crotwell, A. M.
Dutton, G. S.
Langenfelds, R. L.
Weiss, R. F.
Tohjima, Y.
Nakazawa, T.
Krummel, P. B.
Steele, L. P.
Date Issued
February 2014
Journal
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
Publisher
Copernicus GmbH
Citation
Thompson, R. L., F. Chevallier, A. M. Crotwell, G. Dutton, R. L. Langenfelds, R. G. Prinn, R. F. Weiss, et al. “Nitrous Oxide Emissions 1999 to 2009 from a Global Atmospheric Inversion.” Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 14, no. 4 (February 17, 2014): 1801–1817.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
N[subscript 2]O surface fluxes were estimated for 1999 to 2009 using a time-dependent Bayesian inversion technique. Observations were drawn from 5 different networks, incorporating 59 surface sites and a number of ship-based measurement series. To avoid biases in the inverted fluxes, the data were adjusted to a common scale and scale offsets were included in the optimization problem. The fluxes were calculated at the same resolution as the transport model (3.75° longitude × 2.5° latitude) and at monthly time resolution. Over the 11-year period, the global total N[subscript 2]O source varied from 17.5 to 20.1 Tg a[superscript −1] N. Tropical and subtropical land regions were found to consistently have the highest N[subscript 2]O emissions, in particular in South Asia (20 ± 3% of global total), South America (13 ± 4%) and Africa (19 ± 3%), while emissions from temperate regions were smaller: Europe (6 ± 1%) and North America (7 ± 2%). A significant multi-annual trend in N[subscript 2]O emissions (0.045 Tg a[superscript −2] N) from South Asia was found and confirms inventory estimates of this trend. Considerable interannual variability in the global N[subscript 2]O source was observed (0.8 Tg a[superscript −1] N, 1 standard deviation, SD) and was largely driven by variability in tropical and subtropical soil fluxes, in particular in South America (0.3 Tg a[superscript −1] N, 1 SD) and Africa (0.3 Tg a[superscript −1] N, 1 SD). Notable variability was also found for N[subscript 2]O fluxes in the tropical and southern oceans (0.15 and 0.2 Tg a[superscript −1] N, 1 SD, respectively). Interannual variability in the N[subscript 2]O source shows some correlation with the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), where El Niño conditions are associated with lower N[subscript 2]O fluxes from soils and from the ocean and vice versa for La Niña conditions.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Global Change Science
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-1801-2014
