eprintid: 6869 rev_number: 12 eprint_status: archive userid: 1 dir: disk0/00/00/68/69 datestamp: 2006-10-17 08:54:03 lastmod: 2016-01-19 15:02:22 status_changed: 2012-08-14 15:19:43 type: article metadata_visibility: show creators_name: Schmidt, Martina creators_name: Glatzel-Matteier, Holger creators_name: Sartorius, Hartmut creators_name: Worthy, Douglas creators_name: Levin, Ingeborg title: Western European N2O emissions: A top-down approach based on atmospheric observations ispublished: pub subjects: ddc-530 divisions: i-130500 keywords: radonnitrous oxide , atmosphere , greenhouse gas , radon cterms_swd: Distickstoffmonoxid cterms_swd: Atmosphäre cterms_swd: Treibhausgas abstract: We present a three-year record of continuous gas chromatographic nitrous oxide (N2O) observations performed at the urban station Heidelberg (Germany) together with weekly flask data from a remote continental site, Schauinsland (Black Forest, Germany), and two-weekly integrated data from the maritime background station Izaña (Canary Islands). These data are supplemented by continuous atmospheric radon-222 observations. Mean rates of increase of N2O of 0.70–0.78 ppb/yr were observed over the continent and in maritime background air (Izana). The well-mixed continental mixing ratio was found to be higher by only 1.1 ppb (Schauinsland) and 2.4 ppb (Heidelberg) than for maritime background air. Specially tailored data selection of the Heidelberg record allowed the changing influence of a regional N2O point source (adipic acid production, BASF AG) to be clearly identified. The radon (222Rn) tracer method was applied to nighttime N2O observations at Heidelberg to estimate mean regional emissions, which changed from (161±32) µg N2O-N/m2/h in 1996/1997 to (77±10) µg N2O-N /m2/h1 in 1998 as a consequence of 90% emission reduction from BASF. An estimate of the continental N2O flux from southwestern Europe based on further selected Heidelberg data (only well-mixed, late afternoon situations) and observations from the Schauinsland station yielded mean N2O fluxes of (43±5) µg N2O-N m–2h–1 and (42±4) µg N2O-N /m2/h1. These results compare well with statistical emissions inventories, when taking into account possible systematic errors of the radon tracer method of 30-35%. abstract_translated_lang: eng date: 2001 date_type: published id_scheme: DOI id_number: 10.11588/heidok.00006869 ppn_swb: 1644603497 own_urn: urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-opus-68696 language: eng bibsort: SCHMIDTMARWESTERNEUR2001 full_text_status: public publication: ournal of Geophysical Research citation: Schmidt, Martina ; Glatzel-Matteier, Holger ; Sartorius, Hartmut ; Worthy, Douglas ; Levin, Ingeborg (2001) Western European N2O emissions: A top-down approach based on atmospheric observations. ournal of Geophysical Research . document_url: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/6869/1/SchmidtJGR2001.pdf