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Interannual variability in tropospheric nitrous oxide
Author(s) -
Thompson R. L.,
Dlugokencky E.,
Chevallier F.,
Ciais P.,
Dutton G.,
Elkins J. W.,
Langenfelds R. L.,
Prinn R. G.,
Weiss R. F.,
Tohjima Y.,
O'Doherty S.,
Krummel P. B.,
Fraser P.,
Steele L. P.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/grl.50721
Subject(s) - troposphere , stratosphere , environmental science , atmospheric sciences , nitrous oxide , climatology , precipitation , chemistry , geology , meteorology , physics , organic chemistry
Observations of tropospheric N 2 O mixing ratio show significant variability on interannual timescales (0.2 ppb, 1 standard deviation). We found that interannual variability in N 2 O is weakly correlated with that in CFC‐12 and SF 6 for the northern extratropics and more strongly correlated for the southern extratropics, suggesting that interannual variability in all these species is influenced by large‐scale atmospheric circulation changes and, for SF 6 in particular, interhemispheric transport. N 2 O interannual variability was not, however, correlated with polar lower stratospheric temperature, which is used as a proxy for stratosphere‐to‐troposphere transport in the extratropics. This suggests that stratosphere‐to‐troposphere transport is not a dominant factor in year‐to‐year variations in N 2 O growth rate. Instead, we found strong correlations of N 2 O interannual variability with the Multivariate ENSO Index. The climate variables, precipitation, soil moisture, and temperature were also found to be significantly correlated with N 2 O interannual variability, suggesting that climate‐driven changes in soil N 2 O flux may be important for variations in N 2 O growth rate.