Deriving cropland N<sub>2</sub>O emissions from  space-based NO<sub>2</sub> observations

Adams, Taylor J.; Plant, Genevieve; Kort, Eric A.

doi:10.5194/acp-26-5517-2026

Articles | Volume 26, issue 8

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-5517-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-5517-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 26, issue 8

Research article

|

23 Apr 2026

Research article |

| 23 Apr 2026

Deriving cropland N₂O emissions from space-based NO₂ observations

Taylor J. Adams, Genevieve Plant, and Eric A. Kort

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-5517-2026-supplement

Data sets

Posterior Flux Ensemble for Measurement of Agriculture Illuminating farm-Zone Emissions of N2O (MAIZE) Eric A. Kort et al. https://doi.org/10.7302/9w5m-mn30

Sentinel-5P TROPOMI NO2 L2 ESA and KNMI https://doi.org/10.5270/S5P-9bnp8q8

Chamber flux measurements supporting Lawrence et al. (2021) N. C. Lawrence et al. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/e6117972f6a80d5f5a9db354957910ed

Airborne measurements from the FEAST campaign A. Gvakharia et al. https://doi.org/10.7302/Z2XK8CRG

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Short summary

Nitrous oxide (N₂O) is a potent greenhouse gas and ozone-depleting substance emitted from agriculture. Emissions cannot presently be observed from space. We leverage the co-emission of reactive nitrogen oxides (NO + NO₂ = NO_x) from croplands by determining N₂O : NO_x emissions ratios with aircraft. We apply these ratios to daily estimates of NO_x emissions derived from space-based observations, thus generating a space-based proxy for N₂O emissions, with close agreement against independent observations.

Deriving cropland N2O emissions from space-based NO2 observations

Supplement

Data sets

Deriving cropland N₂O emissions from space-based NO₂ observations