A new study led by Auburn University researchers and published in the journal, Nature, shows rising anthropogenic nitrous oxide emissions are jeopardizing climate goals and the Paris Accord.
The significant use of nitrogen fertilizers in the production of food worldwide is increasing concentrations of nitrous oxide in the atmosphere—a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide—which remains in the atmosphere longer than a human lifetime.
This finding is part of a study co-led by Professor Hanqin Tian, director of the International Center for Climate and Global Change Research at Auburn University’s School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences and an Andrew Carnegie Fellow. The study was published today in Nature, the world’s most highly cited interdisciplinary science journal.
Tian co-led an international consortium of scientists from 48 research institutions in 14 countries under the umbrella of the Global Carbon Project and the International Nitrogen Initiative. The objective of the study, titled “A comprehensive quantification of global nitrous oxide sources and sinks,” was to produce the most comprehensive assessment to date of all sources and sinks of the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide.
To see more: http://ocm.auburn.edu/newsroom/news_articles/2020/10/071000-food-production-climate-threat.php