Magnitude and Uncertainty of Nitrous Oxide Emissions From North America Based on Bottom-Up and Top-Down Approaches: Informing Future Research and National Inventories

Details

• Journal Title:
  Geophysical Research Letters
• Personal Author:
  Xu, R. ; Tian, H. ; Pan, N. ; Thompson, R. L. ; Canadell, J. G. ; Davidson, E. A. ; Nevison, C. ; Winiwarter, W. ; Shi, H. ; Pan, S. ; Chang, J. ; Ciais, P. ; Dangal, S. R. S. ; Ito, A. ; Jackson, R. B. ; Joos, F. ; Lauerwald, R. ; Lienert, S. ; Maavara, T. ; Millet, D. B. ; Raymond, P. A. ; Regnier, P. ; Tubiello, F. N. ; Vuichard, N. ; Wells, K. C. ; Wilson, C. ; Yang, J. ; Yao, Y. ; Zaehle, S. ; Zhou, F.
• NOAA Program & Office:
  OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research) ; CPO (Climate Program Office)
• Description:
  We synthesized N2O emissions over North America using 17 bottom-up (BU) estimates from 1980–2016 and five top-down (TD) estimates from 1998 to 2016. The BU-based total emission shows a slight increase owing to U.S. agriculture, while no consistent trend is shown in TD estimates. During 2007–2016, North American N2O emissions are estimated at 1.7 (1.0–3.0) Tg N yr−1 (BU) and 1.3 (0.9–1.5) Tg N yr−1 (TD). Anthropogenic emissions were twice as large as natural fluxes from soil and water. Direct agricultural and industrial activities accounted for 68% of total anthropogenic emissions, 71% of which was contributed by the U.S. Our estimates of U.S. agricultural emissions are comparable to the EPA greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory, which includes estimates from IPCC tier 1 (emission factor) and tier 3 (process-based modeling) approaches. Conversely, our estimated agricultural emissions for Canada and Mexico are twice as large as the respective national GHG inventories.
• Subjects:
  • Nitrous oxide
  • Air quality
• Keywords:
  • Greenhouse gas emissions
• Source:
  Geophysical Research Letters 48(23): e2021GL095264
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL095264
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  Grant no. NA13OAR4310086 ; Grant no. NA16NOS4780207 ; Grant no. NA16NOS4780204
• Place as Subject:
  North America
• Rights Information:
  Other
• Compliance:
  Submitted
• Download URL:
  https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/45568/noaa_45568_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.73 MB]
• Collection(s):
  Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR)
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:349d50c3da85bc4ceb71674ea1a16c9a6b205974ee9b738465a721b0abcdbded4037b055cfaaffd069e2c4d1c637b99b25e6665270156ad4314aa32932badcad