On the natural spatio-temporal heterogeneity of South Pacific nitrous oxide

Andrew R. Babbin (), Elisabeth L. Boles, Jens Mühle and Ray F. Weiss
Additional contact information
Andrew R. Babbin: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Elisabeth L. Boles: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Jens Mühle: University of California San Diego
Ray F. Weiss: University of California San Diego

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a powerful greenhouse gas and ozone depleting substance, but its natural sources, especially marine emissions, are poorly constrained. Localized high concentrations have been observed in the oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) of the tropical Pacific but the impacts of El Niño cycles on this key source region are unknown. Here we show atmospheric monitoring station measurements in Samoa combined with atmospheric back-trajectories provide novel information on N2O variability across the South Pacific. Remarkable elevations in Samoan concentrations are obtained in air parcels that pass over the OMZ. The data further reveal that average concentrations of these OMZ air parcels are augmented during La Niña and decrease sharply during El Niño. The observed natural spatial heterogeneities and temporal dynamics in marine N2O emissions can confound attempts to develop future projections of this climatically active gas as low oxygen zones are predicted to expand and El Niño cycles change.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-17509-6 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-17509-6

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-17509-6

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().