Abstract
N2O emission rates were measured during a 13-month period from July 1981 till August 1982 with a frequency of once every two weeks at six different forest sites in the vicinity of Mainz, Germany. The sites were selected on the basis of soil types typical for many of the Central European forest ecosystems. The individual N2O emission rates showed a high degree of temporal and spatial variabilities which, however, were not significantly correlated to variabilities in soil moisture content or soil temperatures. However, the N2O emission rates followed a general seasonal trend with relatively high values during spring and fall. These maxima coincided with relatively high soil moisture contents, but may also have been influenced by the leaf fall in autumn. In addition, there was a brief episode of relatively high N2O emission rates immediately after thawing of the winter snow. The individual N2O emission rates measured during the whole season ranged between 1 and 92 μg N2O-N m−2 h−1. The average values were in the range of 3–11 μg N2O-N m−2 h−1 and those with a 50% probability were in the range of 2–8 μg N2O-N m−2 h−1. The total source strength of temperate forest soils for atmospheric N2O may be in the range of 0.7–1.5 Tg N yr−1.
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Schmidt, J., Seiler, W. & Conrad, R. Emission of nitrous oxide from temperate forest soils into the atmosphere. J Atmos Chem 6, 95–115 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00048334
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00048334