IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v6y2015i1d10.1038_ncomms9753.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Unusually high soil nitrogen oxide emissions influence air quality in a high-temperature agricultural region

Author

Listed:
  • P. Y. Oikawa

    (Policy and Management, University of California)

  • C. Ge

    (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)

  • J. Wang

    (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)

  • J. R. Eberwein

    (University of California)

  • L. L. Liang

    (University of California)

  • L. A. Allsman

    (University of California)

  • D. A. Grantz

    (University of California)

  • G. D. Jenerette

    (University of California)

Abstract

Fertilized soils have large potential for production of soil nitrogen oxide (NOx=NO+NO2), however these emissions are difficult to predict in high-temperature environments. Understanding these emissions may improve air quality modelling as NOx contributes to formation of tropospheric ozone (O3), a powerful air pollutant. Here we identify the environmental and management factors that regulate soil NOx emissions in a high-temperature agricultural region of California. We also investigate whether soil NOx emissions are capable of influencing regional air quality. We report some of the highest soil NOx emissions ever observed. Emissions vary nonlinearly with fertilization, temperature and soil moisture. We find that a regional air chemistry model often underestimates soil NOx emissions and NOx at the surface and in the troposphere. Adjusting the model to match NOx observations leads to elevated tropospheric O3. Our results suggest management can greatly reduce soil NOx emissions, thereby improving air quality.

Suggested Citation

  • P. Y. Oikawa & C. Ge & J. Wang & J. R. Eberwein & L. L. Liang & L. A. Allsman & D. A. Grantz & G. D. Jenerette, 2015. "Unusually high soil nitrogen oxide emissions influence air quality in a high-temperature agricultural region," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 6(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:6:y:2015:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms9753
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms9753
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms9753
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms9753?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. He, Chao & Yang, Lu & Cai, Bofeng & Ruan, Qingyuan & Hong, Song & Wang, Zhen, 2021. "Impacts of the COVID-19 event on the NOx emissions of key polluting enterprises in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 281(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:6:y:2015:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms9753. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.