UK emissions of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide

Skiba, U. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8659-6092; Jones, S.K.; Dragosits, U.; Drewer, J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6263-6341; Fowler, D.; Rees, R.M.; Pappa, V.A.; Cardenas, L.; Chadwick, D.; Yamulki, S.; Manning, A.J.. 2012 UK emissions of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (B), 367 (1593). 1175-1185. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2011.0356

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Official URL: http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/367...

Abstract/Summary

Signatories of the Kyoto Protocol are obliged to submit annual accounts of their anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, which include nitrous oxide (N2O). Emissions from the sectors industry (3.8 Gg), energy (14.4 Gg), agriculture (86.8 Gg), wastewater (4.4 Gg), land use, land-use change and forestry (2.1 Gg) can be calculated by multiplying activity data (i.e. amount of fertilizer applied, animal numbers) with simple emission factors (Tier 1 approach), which are generally applied across wide geographical regions. The agricultural sector is the largest anthropogenic source of N2O in many countries and responsible for 75 per cent of UK N2O emissions. Microbial N2O production in nitrogen-fertilized soils (27.6 Gg), nitrogen-enriched waters (24.2 Gg) and manure storage systems (6.4 Gg) dominate agricultural emission budgets. For the agricultural sector, the Tier 1 emission factor approach is too simplistic to reflect local variations in climate, ecosystems and management, and is unable to take into account some of the mitigation strategies applied. This paper reviews deviations of observed emissions from those calculated using the simple emission factor approach for all anthropogenic sectors, briefly discusses the need to adopt specific emission factors that reflect regional variability in climate, soil type and management, and explains how bottom-up emission inventories can be verified by top-down modelling.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2011.0356
Programmes:	CEH Topics & Objectives 2009 - 2012 > Biogeochemistry
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:	Billett (to November 2013)
ISSN:	0962-8436
Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.:	This document is the author’s final manuscript version of the journal article following the peer review process. Some differences between this and the publisher’s version may remain. You are advised to consult the publisher’s version if you wish to cite from this article. http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org
Additional Keywords:	emission factors, nitrogen fertilizer, manure, atmospheric deposition, leaching, land-use change
NORA Subject Terms:	Atmospheric Sciences
Date made live:	19 Dec 2012 14:25 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/20849

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2011.0356

Programmes:

CEH Topics & Objectives 2009 - 2012 > Biogeochemistry

UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:

Billett (to November 2013)

ISSN:

0962-8436

Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.:

This document is the author’s final manuscript version of the journal article following the peer review process. Some differences between this and the publisher’s version may remain. You are advised to consult the publisher’s version if you wish to cite from this article. http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org

Additional Keywords:

emission factors, nitrogen fertilizer, manure, atmospheric deposition, leaching, land-use change

NORA Subject Terms:

Atmospheric Sciences

Date made live:

19 Dec 2012 14:25 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/20849