ENCORE

EmissioN verifiCation fOr nitRous oxide

Overview

The Center for Climate and Air Pollution Studies (CCAPS) is dedicated to investigating changes in atmospheric composition and their implications for pollution, with consequences ranging from local to global scales. These changes impact both human health and the environment. CCAPS envisions developing advanced observational and forecasting capabilities to comprehensively understand atmospheric composition, encompassing processes at the nanoscale as well as their global effects.

“Emission verification for nitrous oxide” is a project of CCAPS at the University of Galway, funded by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Ireland. The main objective of this project is to develop a N2O emissions verification system for Ireland.

Nitrous oxide (N₂O) is a potent greenhouse gas—about 300 times as potent as CO₂—and remains in the atmosphere for the longer time with an atmospheric lifetime of 114 years. Despite making up around 6% of global GHG emissions, mainly from agriculture, N₂O is often overlooked in climate policy. Emissions have risen 30% over the past four decades, driven largely by synthetic fertilizer use. In Ireland, agriculture accounts for 93% of N₂O emissions, with recent increases linked to dairy expansion. Monitoring N₂O is crucial to address climate change effectively and ensure informed mitigation strategies.

measurements

The Integrated Carbon Observing System (ICOS) is a European research infrastructure with three key networks: atmospheric stations measuring greenhouse gases like CO₂, CH₄, and N₂O; terrestrial sites monitoring ecosystem exchanges of CO₂, water vapor, and energy; and ocean platforms tracking air-sea fluxes. Our N₂O measurements will be aligned as closely as possible with ICOS standards to ensure high-quality, comparable data.

OBJECTIVES

1.

Develop observation systems for N2O that complement existing atmospheric observation systems. This will Centre on the establishment of monitoring capacity.

2.

The implementation, development and optimization of an inverse modelling system (FLEXINVERT) for N2O emissions in the Irish domain.

3.

Independent verification of emissions and sinks of N2O in Ireland based on data from key boundary sites to produce annual estimates.

4.

The provisional assessment of the relative contributions from individual sources using modelling and observational data analysis techniques.

OUR MEMBERS

Prof. Colin O'Dowd
Dr. Damien Martin
Dr. Zeeshan Javed

CONTACT

We welcome inquiries about the project.

 

Dr. Zeeshan Javed
Postdoctoral Researcher
Centre for Climate and Air Pollution Studies (C-CAPS),
Physics, School of Natural Science,
University of Galway, Galway.

Email
Project Twitter (X) Handle