Nitrogen as a threat to the European greenhouse balance

Butterbach‐Bahl, Klaus; Nemitz, Eiko; Zaehle, Sönke; Billen, Gilles; Boeckx, Pascal; Erisman, Jan Willem; Garnier, Josette; Upstill-Goddard, R. C.; Kreuzer, Michael; Oenema, O.; Reis, Stefan; Schaap, Martijn; Simpson, David; Vries, Wim de; Winiwarter, Wilfried; Sutton, Mark A.

doi:10.1017/cbo9780511976988.022

Cited by 71 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 179 publications

(200 reference statements)

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“…Accordingly, we treat the Thomas et al estimate as an upper bound and select an uncertainty range of 24-65 kg CO 2 -C·kg N −1 . A recent European synthesis found a best estimate of 41 kg CO 2 -C·kg N −1 (11), which falls near the middle of our range.…”

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 63%

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Climate change impacts of US reactive nitrogen

Pinder

Davidson²,

Goodale³

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

143

110

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Fossil fuel combustion and fertilizer application in the United States have substantially altered the nitrogen cycle, with serious effects on climate change. The climate effects can be short-lived, by impacting the chemistry of the atmosphere, or long-lived, by altering ecosystem greenhouse gas fluxes. Here we develop a coherent framework for assessing the climate change impacts of US reactive nitrogen emissions, including oxides of nitrogen, ammonia, and nitrous oxide (N 2 O). We use the global temperature potential (GTP), calculated at 20 and 100 y, in units of CO 2 equivalents (CO 2 e), as a common metric. The largest cooling effects are due to combustion sources of oxides of nitrogen altering tropospheric ozone and methane concentrations and enhancing carbon sequestration in forests. The combined cooling effects are estimated at −290 to −510 Tg CO 2 e on a GTP 20 basis. However, these effects are largely short-lived. On a GTP 100 basis, combustion contributes just −16 to −95 Tg CO 2 e. Agriculture contributes to warming on both the 20-y and 100-y timescales, primarily through N 2 O emissions from soils. Under current conditions, these warming and cooling effects partially offset each other. However, recent trends show decreasing emissions from combustion sources. To prevent warming from US reactive nitrogen, reductions in agricultural N 2 O emissions are needed. Substantial progress toward this goal is possible using current technology. Without such actions, even greater CO 2 emission reductions will be required to avoid dangerous climate change.C ombustion, fertilizer use, and biological nitrogen fixation transform inert N 2 into reactive nitrogen-forms of N that are chemically, biologically, or radiatively active (1). Reactive nitrogen includes oxides of nitrogen (NO x ), ammonia (NH 3 ), and nitrous oxide (N 2 O). NO x is largely from combustion, whereas NH 3 and N 2 O are largely from agriculture. These compounds can impact the climate in a myriad of interconnected ways. NH 3 and NO x contribute to climate change indirectly. They alter the production and loss of climate forcers, atmospheric constituents that perturb the Earth's energy balance by trapping heat (greenhouse gases) or scattering incoming solar energy (aerosols). NO x impacts greenhouse gases by (i) increasing the formation of ozone, contributing to warming, and (ii) increasing the removal of methane (CH 4 ), contributing to cooling. Both NO x and NH 3 can enhance light-scattering aerosols. When deposited out of the atmosphere into ecosystems, reactive N can stimulate plant growth and alter the uptake of greenhouse gases. N 2 O has a direct effect on climate change; it is a powerful greenhouse gas. These climate change impacts are summarized in Table 1.Previous studies have examined a subset of these impacts on atmospheric climate forcers (2-4) and greenhouse gas fluxes (5-9). A few studies have assessed the combined impacts on a global (10) and European (11) scale. However, prior efforts have not specifically assessed the impacts of US react...

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Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 63%

“…A few studies have assessed the combined impacts on a global (10) and European (11) scale. However, prior efforts have not specifically assessed the impacts of US reactive nitrogen emissions on climate change.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change impacts of US reactive nitrogen

Pinder

Davidson²,

Goodale³

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

143

110

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Reactive nitrogen (N) from fossil fuel combustion and agricultural activities influences global climate by altering atmospheric chemistry, aerosols, and greenhouse gas concentrations (Butterbach-Bahl et al, 2011;Pinder et al, 2012). However, the direction of the climate impact of reactive N primarily depends on the balance of opposing processes: positive radiative forcing from emissions of N 2 O, a greenhouse gas, and negative radiative forcing from altered atmospheric chemistry and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) storage in N-fertilized forests (Arneth et al, 2010;Pinder et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Insights into mechanisms governing forest carbon response to nitrogen deposition: a model–data comparison using observed responses to nitrogen addition

2013

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Abstract. In many forest ecosystems, nitrogen (N) deposition enhances plant uptake of carbon dioxide, thus reducing climate warming from fossil fuel emissions. Therefore, accurately modeling how forest carbon (C) sequestration responds to N deposition is critical for understanding how future changes in N availability will influence climate. Here, we use observations of forest C response to N inputs along N deposition gradients and at five temperate forest sites with fertilization experiments to test and improve a global biogeochemical model (CLM-CN 4.0). We show that the CLM-CN plant C growth response to N deposition was smaller than observed and the modeled response to N fertilization was larger than observed. A set of modifications to the CLM-CN improved the correspondence between model predictions and observational data (1) by increasing the aboveground C storage in response to historical N deposition (1850–2004) from 14 to 34 kg C per additional kg N added through deposition and (2) by decreasing the aboveground net primary productivity response to N fertilization experiments from 91 to 57 g C m−2 yr−1. Modeled growth response to N deposition was most sensitive to altering the processes that control plant N uptake and the pathways of N loss. The response to N deposition also increased with a more closed N cycle (reduced N fixation and N gas loss) and decreased when prioritizing microbial over plant uptake of soil inorganic N. The net effect of all the modifications to the CLM-CN resulted in greater retention of N deposition and a greater role of synergy between N deposition and rising atmospheric CO2 as a mechanism governing increases in temperate forest primary production over the 20th century. Overall, testing models with both the response to gradual increases in N inputs over decades (N deposition) and N pulse additions of N over multiple years (N fertilization) allows for greater understanding of the mechanisms governing C–N coupling.

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“…Agricultural soils have been identified to contribute at present about 60% to the global anthropogenic nitrous oxide emissions [7]. Magnitude of N 2 O production depending significantly on the availability of N in the plant-soil system [8]. As a result direct and indirect emissions of N 2 O can be distinguished.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of Artificial Neural Networks in Predicting Direct Nitrous Oxide Emissions from Agricultural Soils

Kolasa-Więcek¹

2013

Ecological Chemistry and Engineering S

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Agricultural greenhouse gases emissions are mainly produced in direct emissions from plant and animal production as well as those associated with land use changes. Agriculture is a major source of atmospheric nitrous oxide (N2O). N2O emissions from agricultural production has the source primarily in soil fertilized by mineral and organic fertilizers. In Poland, agricultural soils are responsible for 77.1% of emissions. Emissions associated with the animal manner farming amount 22.8%. Studies attempt to modeling and predicting of N2O emissions from Direct Soil Emissions in relation to the use of crops and livestock population. In the analysis an artificial neural networks were used. The best values showing the quality of neural regression model were obtained by multilayer perceptrons MLP. Based on the sensitivity analysis, attempts were taken to determine the extent of the contribution of each selected variables on the estimate of the direct emissions of N2O from agricultural soils. The sensitivity analysis of designed network on the structure MLP 9-4-1 shows that the amount of nitrogen fertilizer consumption has the biggest share in the shaping of N2O emissions from Direct Soil Emissions. The sensitivity analysis of network on the structure MLP 16-5-1 pointed to participate cattle and pigs as the most important in the formation of N2O emissions from Direct Soil Emissions. Among the crops in Poland, which may affect the release of N2O stands out rapeseed and rye. The study was conducted using the statistical package Statistica v. 10.0.

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Nitrogen as a threat to the European greenhouse balance

Cited by 71 publications

References 179 publications

Climate change impacts of US reactive nitrogen

Climate change impacts of US reactive nitrogen

Insights into mechanisms governing forest carbon response to nitrogen deposition: a model–data comparison using observed responses to nitrogen addition

Use of Artificial Neural Networks in Predicting Direct Nitrous Oxide Emissions from Agricultural Soils

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