Differentiation of nitrous oxide emission factors for agricultural soils

Nitrous oxide (N2O) direct soil emissions from agriculture are often estimated using the default IPCC emission factor (EF) of 1%. However, a large variation in EFs exists due to differences in environment, crops and management. We developed an approach to determine N2O EFs that depend on N-input sources and environmental factors. The starting point of the method was a monitoring study in which an EF of 1% was found. The conditions of this experiment were set as the reference from which the effects of 16 sources of N input, three soil types, two land-use types and annual precipitation on the N2O EF were estimated. The derived EF inference scheme performed on average better than the default IPCC EF. The use of differentiated EFs, including different regional conditions, allows accounting for the effects of more mitigation measures and offers European countries a possibility to use a Tier 2 approach.

► We developed an N2O emission factor inference scheme for agricultural soils.
► This scheme accounts for different N-input sources and environmental conditions.
► The derived EF inference scheme performed better than the default IPCC EF.
► The use of differentiated EFs allows for better accounting of mitigation measures.