Atmospheric Nitrous Oxide Variations on Centennial Time Scales During the Past Two Millennia

Abstract

©2020 The Authors. The continuous growth of atmospheric nitrous oxide (N2O) is of concern for its potential role in global warming and future stratospheric ozone destruction. Climate feedbacks that enhance N2O emissions in response to global warming are not well understood, and past records of N2O from ice cores are not sufficiently well resolved to examine the underlying climate-N2O feedbacks on societally relevant time scales. Here, we present a new high-resolution and high-precision N2O reconstruction obtained from the Greenland NEEM (North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling) and the Antarctic Styx Glacier ice cores. Covering the N2O history of the past two millennia, our reconstruction shows a centennial-scale variability of ~10 ppb. A pronounced minimum at ~600 CE coincides with the reorganizations of tropical hydroclimate and ocean productivity changes. Comparisons with proxy records suggest association of centennial- to millennial-scale variations in N2O with changes in tropical and subtropical land hydrology and marine productivity