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Global modeling of soil nitrous oxide emissions from natural processes
Author(s) -
Saikawa E.,
Schlosser C. A.,
Prinn R. G.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
global biogeochemical cycles
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.512
H-Index - 187
eISSN - 1944-9224
pISSN - 0886-6236
DOI - 10.1002/gbc.20087
Subject(s) - nitrous oxide , greenhouse gas , environmental science , precipitation , atmospheric sciences , soil water , ozone , soil carbon , environmental chemistry , soil science , ecology , chemistry , oceanography , meteorology , geology , geography , biology
Nitrous oxide is an important greenhouse gas and is a major ozone‒depleting substance. To understand and quantify soil nitrous oxide emissions, we expanded the Community Land Model with coupled Carbon and Nitrogen cycles version 3.5 by inserting a module to estimate monthly varying nitrous oxide emissions between 1975 and 2008. We evaluate our soil N 2 O emission estimates against existing emissions inventories, other process‒based model estimates, and observations from sites in the Amazon, North America, Central America, Asia, Oceania, Africa, and in Europe. The model reproduces precipitation, soil temperature, and observations of N 2 O emissions well at some but not at all sites and especially not during winter in the higher latitudes. Applying this model to estimate the past 24 years of global soil N 2 O emissions, we find that there is a significant decrease (increase) in soil N 2 O emissions associated with El Niño (La Niña) events.