U.S. flagAn official website of the United States government
                    Here's how you know **Official websites use .gov**
                            
                            A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
 **Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
                            
                            A **lock** (                            
                              A locked padlock                                                      
                            
                            ) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Menu Agricultural Research Service
						
                    U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 Soil and Water Management Research: St. Paul, MN
 close



    Research

                    Research Projects
                                    Publications
                                    Collaborations
                                    News
                                    Software
                People

                    Staff Listing
                                    CareersSearch small
                    Search
            
            ARS Home
                                About ARS
                                Contact Us




ARS Home Midwest Area St. Paul, Minnesota Soil and Water Management Research Research Publications at this Location





- ARS National Programs
- Search for a scientific manuscript
- Search for a research project
- ARS Software
- Programs and Projects
- Collaborations
- Subjects of Investigation
- Publications

Title:   Author  item
                                            GRIFFIS, T - University Of Minnesotaitem
                                            LEE, X - Yale Universityitem
                                            Baker, Johnitem
                                            Russelle, Michaelitem
                                            XHANG, X - Yale Universityitem
                                            MILLET, D - University Of Minnesotaitem
                                            Venterea, Rodney

                                                         - *Rod*
  Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
                                    Publication Type: Abstract Only
                                    Publication Acceptance Date: 9/15/2012
                                    Publication  Date: 12/3/2012
                                    Citation: Griffis, T.J., Lee, X., Baker, J.M., Russelle, M.P., Xhang, X., Millet, D., Venterea, R.T. 2012. Regional scale analysis of nitrous oxide emissions within the U.S. Corn Belt and the potential role of episodic hot spots [abstract]. American Geophysical Union, San Francisco, CA. December 3-7, 2012. Abstract B52B-03.Interpretive Summary:
                                Technical Abstract: Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a long-lived greenhouse gas that has the third largest radiative forcing on the Earth-Atmosphere system and has become the most important stratospheric ozone depleting substance of the 21st century. The rapid increase in N2O concentrations over the last century is primarily attributed to the Haber-Bosch process and the green revolution. Predicting future concentrations and developing mitigation strategies for N2O is a critical environmental challenge as pressure mounts on agricultural ecosystems to deliver more products to a burgeoning population. Bottom-up (process/inventory) and top-down (global) strategies are used to constrain the global N2O budget, but have been inadequately tested by data collected at the appropriate spatial and temporal scales. Two-years of tall tower (regional-scale) high-frequency N2O concentration data and boundary layer budget techniques were used to quantify the regional budget and assess bottom-up and top-down emission factors within the U.S. Corn Belt. Here we show that regional flux estimates were 2 to 9-fold greater than bottom-up emission estimates provided by the EDGAR, IPCC, and GEIA assessments. Using our regional flux data we derived “internal” and “external” emission factors that relate directly to the bottom-up and top-down perspectives on constraining the global N2O cycle. The internal and external emission factors were 4.0 and 5.6%, respectively, and significantly larger than that derived from bottom-up approaches. It is hypothesized that this bias is caused by episodic leakage mechanisms that can only be accounted for at the appropriate spatial and temporal scales. N2O emission hot spots from agricultural drainage ditches are shown to exceed 60 nmol m-2 s-1 and, at times, are about 60-fold greater than typical field-scale fluxes. Our data and analyses suggest that many field-scale studies that quantify greenhouse gas emissions will significantly underestimate the true net radiative forcing of agricultural ecosystems because of offsite leakage mechanisms.


Return to top


Connect with ARS Sign up


ARS Home
                            USDA.gov
                            Plain Writing
                            Policies & Links
                            Civil Rights Statements
                            FOIA
                            Accessibility Statement
                            Privacy Policy
                            Non-Discrimination Statement
                            Quality of Information
                            USA.gov
                            WhiteHouse.gov