Articles | Volume 16, issue 9
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-2079-2019
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-2079-2019
Research article
 | 
17 May 2019
Research article |  | 17 May 2019

Investigating the effect of El Niño on nitrous oxide distribution in the eastern tropical South Pacific

Qixing Ji, Mark A. Altabet, Hermann W. Bange, Michelle I. Graco, Xiao Ma, Damian L. Arévalo-Martínez, and Damian S. Grundle

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Cited articles

Anderson, J. H.: The metabolism of hydroxylamine to nitrite by Nitrosomonas, Biochem. J., 91, 8–17, 1964. 
Arévalo-Martínez, D. L., Kock, A., Loscher, C. R., Schmitz, R. A., and Bange, H. W.: Massive nitrous oxide emissions from the tropical South Pacific Ocean, Nat. Geosci., 8, 530–533, https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2469, 2015. 
Arévalo-Martínez, D. L., Kock, A., Löscher, C. R., Schmitz, R. A., Stramma, L., and Bange, H. W.: Influence of mesoscale eddies on the distribution of nitrous oxide in the eastern tropical South Pacific, Biogeosciences, 13, 1105–1118, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-1105-2016, 2016. 
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Barber, R. T. and Chavez, F. P.: Biological Consequences of El Niño, Science, 222, 1203–1210, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.222.4629.1203, 1983. 
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Short summary
A strong El Niño event occurred in the Peruvian coastal region in 2015–2016, during which higher sea surface temperatures co-occurred with significantly lower sea-to-air fluxes of nitrous oxide, an important greenhouse gas and ozone depletion agent. Stratified water column during El Niño retained a larger amount of nitrous oxide that was produced via multiple microbial pathways; and intense nitrous oxide effluxes could occur when normal upwelling is resumed after El Niño.
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