Managed grasslands: A greenhouse gas sink or source?

Typeset version

 

TY  - JOUR
  - Leahy, P,Kiely, G,Scanlon, TM
  - 2004
  - April
  - Physica
  - Managed grasslands: A greenhouse gas sink or source?
  - Validated
  - ()
  - NITROUS-OXIDE FLUXES ECOSYSTEM-SCALE CARBON-DIOXIDE EXCHANGE EMISSIONS QUALITY
  - 31
  - We describe a unique, one year investigation of CO2 and N2O fluxes over a fertilized grassland in Ireland using two eddy covariance systems. As the global warming potential (GWP) of N2O is 296 ( 100 year time horizon), relatively small N2O emissions have a potentially large impact on overall radiative forcing. Therefore nitrogen fertilizer application practices may possibly turn a site with a net CO2 uptake into a net radiative forcing source. We observed a net annual uptake of 9.45 T CO2 ha(-1). N2O emissions equivalent to 5.42 T ha(-1) CO2 GWP counteracted 57% of the effect of the CO2 uptake. Estimated methane emissions from ruminants (3.74 T ha(-1) CO2 GWP) further counteract the CO2 uptake, making the overall GWP nearly neutral. This delicate balance of the greenhouse gas fluxes underscores the significance of fertilizer application strategies in determining whether a managed grassland is a net GWP source or sink.
  - ARTN L20507
DA  - 2004/04
ER  - 
@article{V43337345,
   = {Leahy,  P and Kiely,  G and Scanlon,  TM },
   = {2004},
   = {April},
   = {Physica},
   = {Managed grasslands: A greenhouse gas sink or source?},
   = {Validated},
   = {()},
   = {NITROUS-OXIDE FLUXES ECOSYSTEM-SCALE CARBON-DIOXIDE EXCHANGE EMISSIONS QUALITY},
   = {31},
   = {{We describe a unique, one year investigation of CO2 and N2O fluxes over a fertilized grassland in Ireland using two eddy covariance systems. As the global warming potential (GWP) of N2O is 296 ( 100 year time horizon), relatively small N2O emissions have a potentially large impact on overall radiative forcing. Therefore nitrogen fertilizer application practices may possibly turn a site with a net CO2 uptake into a net radiative forcing source. We observed a net annual uptake of 9.45 T CO2 ha(-1). N2O emissions equivalent to 5.42 T ha(-1) CO2 GWP counteracted 57% of the effect of the CO2 uptake. Estimated methane emissions from ruminants (3.74 T ha(-1) CO2 GWP) further counteract the CO2 uptake, making the overall GWP nearly neutral. This delicate balance of the greenhouse gas fluxes underscores the significance of fertilizer application strategies in determining whether a managed grassland is a net GWP source or sink.}},
   = {ARTN L20507},
  source = {IRIS}
}
AUTHORSLeahy, P,Kiely, G,Scanlon, TM
YEAR2004
MONTHApril
JOURNAL_CODEPhysica
TITLEManaged grasslands: A greenhouse gas sink or source?
STATUSValidated
TIMES_CITED()
SEARCH_KEYWORDNITROUS-OXIDE FLUXES ECOSYSTEM-SCALE CARBON-DIOXIDE EXCHANGE EMISSIONS QUALITY
VOLUME31
ISSUE
START_PAGE
END_PAGE
ABSTRACTWe describe a unique, one year investigation of CO2 and N2O fluxes over a fertilized grassland in Ireland using two eddy covariance systems. As the global warming potential (GWP) of N2O is 296 ( 100 year time horizon), relatively small N2O emissions have a potentially large impact on overall radiative forcing. Therefore nitrogen fertilizer application practices may possibly turn a site with a net CO2 uptake into a net radiative forcing source. We observed a net annual uptake of 9.45 T CO2 ha(-1). N2O emissions equivalent to 5.42 T ha(-1) CO2 GWP counteracted 57% of the effect of the CO2 uptake. Estimated methane emissions from ruminants (3.74 T ha(-1) CO2 GWP) further counteract the CO2 uptake, making the overall GWP nearly neutral. This delicate balance of the greenhouse gas fluxes underscores the significance of fertilizer application strategies in determining whether a managed grassland is a net GWP source or sink.
PUBLISHER_LOCATION
ISBN_ISSN
EDITION
URL
DOI_LINKARTN L20507
FUNDING_BODY
GRANT_DETAILS