Nitrous Oxide

Aerial view of a coastal area with a factsheet about nitrous oxide overlayed on the left, associated with the Global Climate Observing System.
Nitrous oxide (N2O) is an important climate-relevant trace gas in the Earth’s atmosphere. In the troposphere it acts as a strong greenhouse gas and in the stratosphere it acts as an ozone depleting substance because it is the precursor of ozone depleting nitric oxide radicals. The ocean - including its coastal areas such as continental shelves, estuaries and upwelling areas - contribute about 30% to the atmospheric N2O budget.

N2O concentration and flux in the ocean

Figure: Global N2O (nmol kg–1) distribution in 200 m depth estimated using depth/AOUR-depending N2O production rates (a) and using temperature/AOUR-depending N2O production rates (AOUR = apparent oxygen uitilization rate) (b). (a,b) White areas in the Arabian Sea represent concentrations exceeding 40 nmol kg–1. Annual N2O production (μmol m–2 yr–1) via nitrification integrated over the water column estimated using (c) depth/AOUR relationship and (d) temperature/AOUR relationship.

Reference: Freing, A., Wallace, D. W. R., and Bange, H. W. (2012): Global oceanic production of nitrous oxide, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences, 367, 1245-1255, 10.1098/rstb.2011.0360.

ECV Products and Requirements

These products and requirements reflect the Implementation Plan 2022 (GCOS-244).

The requirements are found in the complete 2022 ECVs Requirements document as well: ECV Nitrous Oxide.

Products Interior Ocean Nitrous Oxide N2ON2O Air-sea Flux
 Coastal Coastal
 (*)UnitValuesValues
Horizontal ResolutionGkm<2000<500<2000<500
B    
T20002000
Vertical ResolutionG   
B  
T  
Temporal ResolutionGmonth33weekly to monthly
B  
T3weekly to monthlydecadal
TimelinessGy11
B  
T22
Required Measurement Uncertainty (2-sigma)G%<1<1
B  
T55
StabilityG   
B  
T  

(*) Goal (G): an ideal requirement above which further improvements are not necessary. Breakthrough (B): an intermediate level between threshold and goal which, if achieved, would result in a significant improvement for the targeted application. The breakthrough value may also indicate the level at which specified uses within climate monitoring become possible. It may be appropriate to have different breakthrough values for different uses. Threshold (T): the minimum requirement to be met to ensure that data are useful

Data sources

This list provides sources for openly accessible data sets with worldwide coverage for which metadata is available. It is curated by the respective GCOS ECV Steward(s). The list does not claim to be complete. Anyone with a suitable dataset who wishes it to be added to this list should contact the abombelliatwmo [dot] int (GCOS Secretariat).

  • MarinE MethanE and NiTrous Oxide (MEMENTO) database
Nitrous oxide
النطاق:
Ocean
Subdomain:
Biogeochemical
Scientific Area:
Carbon Cycle and other GHGs
ECV Steward:
Products:
Interior ocean N2O; N2O air-sea flux