Nitrous Oxide from Heterogeneous Agricultural Landscapes: Source Contribution Analysis by Eddy Covariance and Chambers

Eddy covariance and static chambers are different-scale methods for monitoring agricultural N2O that, when used together on heterogeneous agricultural landscapes, can help identify flux sources and sinks and evaluate the effect of management interventions on landscape-scale N2O emissions. This study compared the N2O flux data obtained by eddy covariance and static chambers during a short-term N2O measurement campaign from two adjacent agricultural treatments: alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) and corn (Zea mays L.) fields. Wind direction data from micrometeorological observations were used to downscale the integrated eddy covariance N2O flux and estimate the treatment contributions. The N2O data from static chambers installed on each treatment were used to verify the partitioned eddy covariance fluxes. Both methods consistently showed greater emissions for the alfalfa field, which received more N fertilizer earlier in the growing season. Two methods were also compared with respect to the landscape-integrated N2O flux measured at the eddy covariance mast location. Upscaling the chamber N2O fluxes was performed by totaling the contributions from individual chambers weighted toward the source area share associated with their field locations using a simple footprint model. The comparison of the chambers' total to the measured eddy covariance emissions showed a difference of 7 to 33% between the methods. The best agreement was observed when the integrated eddy covariance flux was associated with uniform wind direction and a homogeneous source area. The results suggest that localization of the flux source using wind directions and footprint information can help in comparing different-scale N2O emissions.