On the natural spatio-temporal heterogeneity of South Pacific nitrous oxide
© 2020, The Author(s). 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 imp...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
2021
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/135461 |
| _version_ | 1811075416160468992 |
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| author | Babbin, Andrew R Boles, Elisabeth L Mühle, Jens Weiss, Ray F |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Babbin, Andrew R Boles, Elisabeth L Mühle, Jens Weiss, Ray F |
| author_sort | Babbin, Andrew R |
| collection | MIT |
| description | © 2020, The Author(s). 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. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:05:32Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/135461 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:05:32Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1354612023-02-23T15:32:34Z On the natural spatio-temporal heterogeneity of South Pacific nitrous oxide Babbin, Andrew R Boles, Elisabeth L Mühle, Jens Weiss, Ray F Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences © 2020, The Author(s). 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. 2021-10-27T20:23:33Z 2021-10-27T20:23:33Z 2020 2020-08-10T12:40:55Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/135461 en 10.1038/s41467-020-17509-6 Nature Communications Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf Springer Science and Business Media LLC Nature |
| spellingShingle | Babbin, Andrew R Boles, Elisabeth L Mühle, Jens Weiss, Ray F On the natural spatio-temporal heterogeneity of South Pacific nitrous oxide |
| title | On the natural spatio-temporal heterogeneity of South Pacific nitrous oxide |
| title_full | On the natural spatio-temporal heterogeneity of South Pacific nitrous oxide |
| title_fullStr | On the natural spatio-temporal heterogeneity of South Pacific nitrous oxide |
| title_full_unstemmed | On the natural spatio-temporal heterogeneity of South Pacific nitrous oxide |
| title_short | On the natural spatio-temporal heterogeneity of South Pacific nitrous oxide |
| title_sort | on the natural spatio temporal heterogeneity of south pacific nitrous oxide |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/135461 |
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