[1] Trace gas exchange of N 2 O, NO, and CO 2 between soil and the atmosphere was measured with high temporal resolution for 5 years (2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008) at the Höglwald Forest, Germany, using a fully automated measuring system. On the basis of these long-term continuous measurements, we calculated the annual budgets of soil-atmosphere trace gas , and 7.15 ± 0.08 t CO 2 -C ha −1 yr −1 , respectively. Seasonal patterns of soil N 2 O fluxes were characterized by event emissions, generally occurring during thawing after longer freezing periods. In contrast to N 2 O emissions, the seasonal patterns of NO and CO 2 soil-atmosphere exchange followed soil temperature changes, although a substantial increase in CO 2 emissions was also observed during the freeze and thaw periods. The fact that NO fluxes were higher than N 2 O emissions during most of the entire observation period indicated that nitrification might have been the primary pathway of N-trace gas production in our study. The extremely high N 2 O emissions and the substantial interannual variation of N 2 O flux rates caused by the freeze and thaw effect demonstrate the need for long-term measurements with high temporal resolution in order to come up with more reliable estimates of soil-atmosphere trace fluxes.