A Modeling Study of Direct and Indirect N2O Emissions From a Representative Catchment in the U.S. Corn Belt

Fu, Congsheng; Lee, Xuhui; Griffis, Timothy J.; Baker, John M.; Turner, Peter A.

doi:10.1029/2017WR022108

Title: A Modeling Study of Direct and Indirect N₂O Emissions From a Representative Catchment in the U.S. Corn Belt

Journal Article · 17 April 2018 · Water Resources Research

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2017WR022108 · OSTI ID:1544286

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Nanjing Univ. of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing (China); Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Nanjing (China); Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (United States)
Nanjing Univ. of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing (China); Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (United States)
Univ. of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN (United States)
Univ. of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN (United States); US Dept. of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), Saint Paul, MN (United States)

Indirect nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions from drainage ditches and headwater streams are poorly constrained. Few studies have monitored stream N₂O emissions and fewer modeling studies have been conducted to simulate stream N₂O emissions. Here, we determined direct and indirect N₂O emission modules and a corresponding calibration module for use in the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model, and implemented the expanded SWAT model (termed SWAT-N₂O) to a representative fourth-stream-order catchment (210 km²) and six first-order stream catchments (0.22–1.83 km²) in southeastern Minnesota. We simulated the spatial and temporal fluctuations of the indirect emissions from streams, identified emission “hot spots” and “hot moments,” and diagnosed the correlations between direct and indirect emissions. We demonstrated that zero-order streams and first-order streams could contribute 0.034–0.066 and 0.011 nmol N₂O m^–2 s^–1 (expressed on the basis of unit catchment area) to the total surface emissions, respectively. Emissions from zero-order and first-order streams equal 24–41% of direct emissions from soil, which may explain the emission gap between calculations using top-down and bottom-up methods. Clear spatial patterns were identified for both direct and indirect emissions and their spatial variations were negatively correlated. Our results indicate that the IPCC N₂O emission factor for streams in the Corn Belt should be increased by 3.2–5.7 times. Increasing precipitation and streamflow in the Corn Belt may potentially increase frequencies of soil anoxic conditions and nitrate leaching to streams, and subsequently increase N₂O emissions from both soils and streams.

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Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC); United States Department of Agriculture

Grant/Contract Number:: USDA‐NIFA 2013‐67019‐21364; AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1544286

Journal Information:: Water Resources Research, Vol. 54, Issue 5; ISSN 0043-1397

Publisher:: American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 26 works

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