The global sources of nitrous oxide

作者：M. A. K. Khalil, R. A. Rasmussen · 发表于：Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres · 年份：1992 · DOI：10.1029/92jd01222 · 被引用次数：295 · 研究领域：Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics、Atmospheric Ozone and Climate、Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols

We use atmospheric and ice core data on the concentrations of nitrous oxide to estimate that the present global anthropogenic emissions are 7±1 tg/yr. If the atmospheric lifetime of N2O is a hundred years or more, this estimate is virtually independent of the actual lifetime. The natural sources are estimated to be about 15 tg/yr. We also find that nitrous oxide started increasing rapidly only during the last century. The trends over the last decade are extremely variable; over 3‐year periods the trends have ranged from 0.5 ± 0.2 parts per billion by volume (ppbv/yr) to 1.2 ± 0.1 ppbv/yr. The average rate of increase is about 0.80 ± 0.02 ppbv/yr or 0.27 ± 0.01 %/yr (1977–1988). There is an indication that N2O may be increasing faster in recent years than during the middle 1970s by about 0.2 ± 0.1 ppbv/yr. It is likely that several small anthropogenic sources may be causing the present trends, all emitting between 0.1 and 1.5 Tg/yr.