Effect of temporal resolution on N₂O emission inventories in Dutch fen meadows

Abstract

[1] Most countries use a 1-year-resolution emission factor approach (Tier 1 or 2) to estimate terrestrial N 2 O emissions as part of their national greenhouse gas inventory. Little attention has so far been paid to the effect of the temporal resolution of the approach (e.g., day, season, and year) on N 2 O emission estimates. The effect of lumping temporal variation can be very large because of daily or seasonal variations of processes causing N 2 O emissions. Therefore, we compared annual N 2 O emissions from a model with daily time steps (DNDC) with those of a model with annual time steps (INITIATOR). Emissions were simulated for two intensively managed grassland plots in the Dutch fen meadow landscape. Annual N 2 O emissions from the investigated grasslands were sensitive to rainfall distribution within the year, especially to summer rainfall. We recommend that Tier 2 N 2 O emission estimates for intensively managed grasslands on peat soils in the temperate climate zone are adjusted for relative summer rainfall.

Vegetation composition modulates the interaction of climate warming and elevated nitrogen deposition on nitrous oxide flux in a boreal peatland

“…If peatlands shift from Sphagnum ‐dominated to graminoid‐dominated (Dieleman et al, 2015) or shrub‐dominated ecosystems (Bragazza et al, 2015), the greenhouse gas‐N 2 O flux would be increased under future climate warming and elevated N deposition, which potentially accelerates global warming and ozone depletion in the stratosphere. In addition, our result supports the point that the temporal variation should not be ignored in predicting N 2 O fluxes (Nol et al, 2009). The mitigating effect of warming on the positive N effect was observed in the mid‐growing season (July–August), while the enhancement effect of warming on the N effect was observed in the early growing season (May–June).…”

Uncertainty propagation analysis of an N2O emission model at the plot and landscape scale

“…model context, model inputs, stakeholder involvement); however, in this article we focus on uncertainty due to uncertainty in model inputs. Other types of uncertainty are treated in the study of Kroon et al (2008) and Nol et al (2009Nol et al ( , 2008. The quickscan was adapted for use in this research.…”

“…The contribution of model structural uncertainty was ignored (but see Nol et al (2009) for analysis of the influence of model structure on N 2 O emission inventories). Due to the large number of INITIATOR inputs, a quickscan was used to select which model inputs were relevant for the uncertainty analysis.…”