What matters when? Temporal development of drivers and sources of nitrous oxide emissions in winter wheat

Turco, Fabio; Feigenwinter, Iris; Allemann, Lorenz; Hörtnagl, Lukas; Liebisch, Frank; Buchmann, Nina

doi:10.5194/bg-23-7151-2026

Articles | Volume 23, issue 19

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-7151-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-7151-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 23, issue 19

Research article

|

12 Oct 2026

Research article |

| 12 Oct 2026

What matters when? Temporal development of drivers and sources of nitrous oxide emissions in winter wheat

Fabio Turco, Iris Feigenwinter, Lorenz Allemann, Lukas Hörtnagl, Frank Liebisch, and Nina Buchmann

Data sets

Eddy covariance ecosystem fluxes, meteorological data and detailed management information for the cropland site Oensingen in Switzerland, collected between 2021 and 2023 Fabio Turco et al. https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-c-000782868

Analysis code and raw data for all the figures and tables Fabio Turco https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23159096

Model code and software

Analysis code and raw data for all the figures and tables Fabio Turco https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23159096

fabioturc/dataset_ch-oe2_2021- 23_flux_product: FP2025.12 Fabio Turco https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17975468

Short summary

Fertilized cropland is a major source of nitrous oxide, but when and why it is emitted within a season is still poorly known. We measured it continuously above a Swiss winter wheat field for a year. Emissions exceeded those typical for wheat, and machine learning showed they peaked during crop establishment and early spring, when wet soil and large amounts of nitrogen met low plant uptake. Vigorous growth lowered emissions, so matching nitrogen supply to plant demand is a promising lever.