Nitrogen-15 and oxygen-18 characteristics of nitrous oxide: A global perspective

Journal Article · Fri Dec 17 04:00:00 EST 1993 · Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/science.262.5141.1855· OSTI ID:5245234

Kim, J R; Craig, H ^[1]

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1. Univ. of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA (United States)

The global budget of N[sub 2]O shows a significant imbalance between the known rate of destruction in the stratosphere and the estimated rates of natural and anthropogenic production in soils and the ocean. Measurements of the [sup 15]N/[sup 14]N and [sup 18]O/[sup 16]O ratios in two major tropospheric sources of N[sub 2]O, tropical rain forest soils and fertilized soils, show that soil N[sub 2]O from a tropical rain forest in Costa Rica and from sugar-cane fields in Maui is strongly depleted in both [sup 15]N and [sup 18]O relative to mean tropospheric N[sub 2]O. A major source of heavy N[sub 2]O, enriched in both [sup 15]N and [sup 18]O, must therefore be present to balance the light N[sub 2]O from soils. One such source is the back-mixing flux of N[sub 2]O from the stratosphere, which is enriched in [sup 15]N and [sup 18]O by photolysis and chemistry. However these return fluxes of [sup 15]N and [sup 18]O are so great that a large oceanic flux of N[sub 2]O is required to balance the heavy isotope-enriched stratospheric flux. All these effects will be reflected in climatically related isotopic variations in trapped N[sub 2]O in polar ice cores.

• OSTI ID: 5245234
• Journal Information: Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States), Journal Name: Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States) Vol. 262:5141; ISSN SCIEAS; ISSN 0036-8075
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540120* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
CHALCOGENIDES
CLIMATIC CHANGE
EARTH PLANET
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
ISOTOPE RATIO
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
NITROGEN 14
NITROGEN 15
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NITROGEN ISOTOPES
NITROGEN OXIDES
NITROUS OXIDE
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
ODD-ODD NUCLEI
OXIDES
OXYGEN 16
OXYGEN 18
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
OXYGEN ISOTOPES
PLANETS
STABLE ISOTOPES