CAREER: Improving Our Understanding of Nitrous Oxide Emissions to the Atmosphere

这项职业奖支持研究解决有关N2O(一氧化二氮)向大气排放的关键问题。观测和模拟都将被用来帮助更好地理解农业土壤和周围水道是如何导致N2O水平上升的全球问题的。该项目包括一些活动和合作，这些活动和合作为K-12年级的学生带来了对科学研究的兴趣。激励和指导这项拟议调查的两个问题是：1.为什么最先进的模型和清单无法准确地再现区域规模的N2O排放？2.区域尺度上对北美当前和未来N2O排放的控制是什么？作为该项目的一部分，对土壤和水道(包括玉米带和密西西比河下游的自然和肥沃土地)的塔式和飞机测量将与区域拉格朗日运输模型相结合，以确定当代N2O的排放量。将使用地统计模型来建立温度、降水、淹没状态、土壤湿度和区域排放等变量之间的统计关系。

This CAREER award is supporting research to resolve key questions about the emissions of N2O (nitrous oxide) to the atmosphere. Both observations and modeling will be used to help improve the understanding of how agricultural soils and surrounding waterways contribute to the global problem of rising N2O levels. The project includes activities and collaborations that bring interest in scientific research to K-12 students, particularly those who are under-represented in the sciences.The two questions that are motivating and guiding the proposed investigation are:1. Why are state-of-the-art models and inventories unable to accurately reproduce regional scale N2O emissions?2. What are regional-scale controls on current and future N2O emissions in North America?As part of this project, tower and aircraft measurements over soils and waterways encompassing natural and fertilized lands in the Corn Belt and along the lower Mississippi River basin will be combined with a regional Lagrangian transport model to determine contemporary emissions of N2O. Geostatistical modeling will be used to establish the statistical relationship between variables such as temperature, precipitation, inundation state, and soil moisture and regional emissions.