Background level of nitrous oxide in the atmosphere in relation to flux from soil

Abstract

According to Broadbent and Clark (3), there are numerous data indicating that denitrification leads to the emission of N2O together with N2, whereby loss of N is developed from soils. Nitrous oxide is also released from soils to the atmosphere during the nitrification of ammonium and ammonium-producing fertilizers under aerobic conditions (1). Relatively few attempts have been made to directly measure N2O evolution under field conditions (6, 7, 10–12), although a number of laboratory studies have been reported. These studies are essential for determining the N balance between additions and losses of soil N.