IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcli/v9y2019i12d10.1038_s41558-019-0613-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Acceleration of global N2O emissions seen from two decades of atmospheric inversion

Author

Listed:
  • R. L. Thompson

    (Norsk Institutt for Luftforskning)

  • L. Lassaletta

    (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid)

  • P. K. Patra

    (Research Institute for Global Change, JAMSTEC)

  • C. Wilson

    (University of Leeds
    University of Leeds)

  • K. C. Wells

    (University of Minnesota)

  • A. Gressent

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • E. N. Koffi

    (European Commission Joint Research Centre)

  • M. P. Chipperfield

    (University of Leeds
    University of Leeds)

  • W. Winiwarter

    (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
    University of Zielona Góra)

  • E. A. Davidson

    (University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science)

  • H. Tian

    (Auburn University)

  • J. G. Canadell

    (Global Carbon Project, CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere)

Abstract

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is the third most important long-lived GHG and an important stratospheric ozone depleting substance. Agricultural practices and the use of N-fertilizers have greatly enhanced emissions of N2O. Here, we present estimates of N2O emissions determined from three global atmospheric inversion frameworks during the period 1998–2016. We find that global N2O emissions increased substantially from 2009 and at a faster rate than estimated by the IPCC emission factor approach. The regions of East Asia and South America made the largest contributions to the global increase. From the inversion-based emissions, we estimate a global emission factor of 2.3 ± 0.6%, which is significantly larger than the IPCC Tier-1 default for combined direct and indirect emissions of 1.375%. The larger emission factor and accelerating emission increase found from the inversions suggest that N2O emission may have a nonlinear response at global and regional scales with high levels of N-input.

Suggested Citation

  • R. L. Thompson & L. Lassaletta & P. K. Patra & C. Wilson & K. C. Wells & A. Gressent & E. N. Koffi & M. P. Chipperfield & W. Winiwarter & E. A. Davidson & H. Tian & J. G. Canadell, 2019. "Acceleration of global N2O emissions seen from two decades of atmospheric inversion," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 9(12), pages 993-998, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcli:v:9:y:2019:i:12:d:10.1038_s41558-019-0613-7
    DOI: 10.1038/s41558-019-0613-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-019-0613-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41558-019-0613-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Katarzyna Wolny-Koładka & Renata Jarosz & Michał Juda & Monika Mierzwa-Hersztek, 2022. "Distinct Changes in Abundance of Culturable Microbial Community and Respiration Activities in Response to Mineral–Organic Mixture Application in Contaminated Soil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-16, November.
    2. Alves, Luís & Holz, Laura I.V. & Fernandes, Celina & Ribeirinha, Paulo & Mendes, Diogo & Fagg, Duncan P. & Mendes, Adélio, 2022. "A comprehensive review of NOx and N2O mitigation from industrial streams," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    3. Xiaoxuan Su & Leyang Yang & Kai Yang & Yijia Tang & Teng Wen & Yingmu Wang & Matthias C. Rillig & Lena Rohe & Junliang Pan & Hu Li & Yong-guan Zhu, 2022. "Estuarine plastisphere as an overlooked source of N2O production," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.
    4. Magda Monteiro & Marco Costa, 2023. "Change Point Detection by State Space Modeling of Long-Term Air Temperature Series in Europe," Stats, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-18, January.
    5. Javier Martínez-Dalmau & Julio Berbel & Rafaela Ordóñez-Fernández, 2021. "Nitrogen Fertilization. A Review of the Risks Associated with the Inefficiency of Its Use and Policy Responses," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-15, May.
    6. Aurélien Saghaï & Grace Pold & Christopher M. Jones & Sara Hallin, 2023. "Phyloecology of nitrate ammonifiers and their importance relative to denitrifiers in global terrestrial biomes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-13, December.
    7. E. Harris & L. Yu & Y-P. Wang & J. Mohn & S. Henne & E. Bai & M. Barthel & M. Bauters & P. Boeckx & C. Dorich & M. Farrell & P. B. Krummel & Z. M. Loh & M. Reichstein & J. Six & M. Steinbacher & N. S., 2022. "Warming and redistribution of nitrogen inputs drive an increase in terrestrial nitrous oxide emission factor," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-16, December.
    8. Ahmed Mosa & Mostafa M. Mansour & Enas Soliman & Ayman El-Ghamry & Mohamed El Alfy & Ahmed M. El Kenawy, 2023. "Biochar as a Soil Amendment for Restraining Greenhouse Gases Emission and Improving Soil Carbon Sink: Current Situation and Ways Forward," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-26, January.
    9. Felizitas Winkhart & Thomas Mösl & Harald Schmid & Kurt-Jürgen Hülsbergen, 2022. "Effects of Organic Maize Cropping Systems on Nitrogen Balances and Nitrous Oxide Emissions," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-30, June.
    10. Yunpeng Qiu & Yi Zhang & Kangcheng Zhang & Xinyu Xu & Yunfeng Zhao & Tongshuo Bai & Yexin Zhao & Hao Wang & Xiongjie Sheng & Sean Bloszies & Christopher J. Gillespie & Tangqing He & Yang Wang & Huaiha, 2024. "Intermediate soil acidification induces highest nitrous oxide emissions," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcli:v:9:y:2019:i:12:d:10.1038_s41558-019-0613-7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.