Soil emissions represent ~25% of the global annual atmospheric budget of nitrogen oxides (NOx). The nitrogen isotopic composition of soil NOx emissions (δ15N‐NOx) is potentially useful to track soil emission contributions to NOx budgets, yet its in situ variations with fertilizer management and meteorology are unknown. We quantify in situ δ15N‐NOx distributions from liquid dairy manure‐fertilized cropland in State College, Pennsylvania at hourly resolution during spring 2016 and 2017. δ15N‐NOx (n = 37) ranged from −44.2 to −14.0‰ and was distinct between injected (−32.2 ± 12.1‰) and broadcast manure without tillage (−23.4 ± 2.1‰). δ15N‐NOx was not correlated with order of magnitude emission variations due to large changes in soil moisture. δ15N‐NOx differences between treatments were associated with nitrification and NO consumption contributions. Our results suggest that δ15N‐NOx can be a valuable observational tracer of soil emissions and varies with fertilizer management practices.
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