UC Irvine

Here I use a simple model to place constraints on the relative sizes of N2O sources in the northern and southern hemispheres (NH and SH). Using measurements of the rate of temporal increase of atmospheric nitrous oxide (N2O) concentrations and observations of their cross-equator differences, I calculate the total sources of N2O for the (NH and SH). The NH source ΦN must exceed the SH source ΦS; their ratio R = (ΦN/ΦS) is between 1.7 and 2.4 for the case where the NH concentration is 1 ppb higher than that in the SH. When the NH concentration is 0.75 ppb higher, R is between 1.5 and 1.9. -from Author