Steps towards a mechanistic model of global soil nitric oxide emissions: implementation and space based-constraints

Abstract. Soils have been identified as a major source (~15%) of global nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. Parameterizations of soil NOx emissions (SNOx) commonly used in the current generation of chemical transport models were designed to capture mean seasonal behaviour. These parameterizations do not, however, respond quantitatively to the meteorological triggers that are observed to result in pulsed SNOx. Here we present a new parameterization of SNOx implemented within a global chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem). The parameterization represents available nitrogen (N) in soils using biome specific emission factors, online wet- and dry-deposition of N, and fertilizer and manure N derived from a spatially…