Nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas, is on the rise | is n2o a greenhouse gas
Mostofusknownitrousoxideas"laughinggas,"usedforitsanaestheticeffects.Butnitrousoxide(N2O)isactuallythethirdmostimportantlong-livedgreenhousegas,aftercarbondioxide(CO2)andmethane.Nitrousoxideisalsooneofthemainstratosphericozonedepletingsubstances--andwearereleasingmoreofitintotheatmospherethanpreviouslythought,accordingtoanewstudypublishedthisweekinNatureClimateChange."WeseethattheN2Oemissionshaveincreasedconsiderablyduringthepasttwodecades,butespeciallyfrom2009onwards,"saidleadscientistRonaL...
Most of us know nitrous oxide as "laughing gas," used for its anaesthetic effects. But nitrous oxide (N2O) is actually the third most important long-lived greenhouse gas, after carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane. Nitrous oxide is also one of the main stratospheric ozone depleting substances -- and we are releasing more of it into the atmosphere than previously thought, according to a new study published this week in Nature Climate Change.
"We see that the N2O emissions have increased considerably during the past two decades, but especially from 2009 onwards," said lead scientist Rona L. Thompson from NILU-Norwegian Institute for Air Research. "Our estimates show that the emission of N2O has increased faster over the last decade than estimated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) emission factor approach."
Increasing use of nitrogen fertilizers is leading to higher N2O levels in the atmosphere
In the study, Thompson and scientists incl...