Neglecting diurnal variations leads to uncertainties in terrestrial nitrous oxide emissions.

ABSTRACT: Nitrous oxide (N2O) is an important greenhouse gas produced in soil and aquatic ecosystems. Its warming potential is 296 times higher than that of CO2. Most N2O emission measurements made so far are limited in temporal and spatial resolution causing uncertainties in the global N2O budget. Recent advances in laser spectroscopic techniques provide an excellent tool for area-integrated, direct and continuous field measurements of N2O fluxes using the eddy covariance method. By employing this technique on an agricultural site with four laser-based analysers, we show here that N2O exchange exhibits contrasting diurnal behaviour depending upon soil nitrogen availability. When soil N was high due to fertilizer application, N2O emissions were higher during daytime than during the night. However, w

SUBMITTER: Shurpali NJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4860568 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature