Diurnal patterns of nitrous oxide fluxes from a seasonal prairie wetland

Derek R. Faust; Brian Tangen; Sheel Bansal

doi:10.1007/s13157-025-02017-4

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Diurnal patterns of nitrous oxide fluxes from a seasonal prairie wetland

Derek R. Faust·Brian Tangen·Sheel Bansal

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Abstract

Wetlands have spatially and temporally dynamic nitrous oxide (N 2 O) fluxes. Understanding diurnal patterns in N 2 O fluxes in wetlands can reveal short-term drivers and improve process-based models. An automated chamber system was used to determine N 2 O flux rates every 2.5 to 4 h in a prairie pothole wetland in North Dakota during the 2013 to 2014 growing seasons under ponded, moist, and dry soil conditions. The wetland generally emitted N 2 O under all conditions, although median fluxes during ponded conditions were low over the two-year study. A significant diurnal N 2 O pattern was observed under dry soil conditions, but not in moist soil or ponded conditions. When soils were dry, daytime (~ 10:00–14:00; 2.43 ± 0.31 ng m -2 hr -1 ) and late-day (~ 14:00–18:00; 2.20 ± 0.16 ng m -2 hr -1 ) average N 2 O fluxes were 77% and 61% greater, respectively, than other times during the 24-hr diel cycle (< 1.37 ng m -2 hr -1 ). N 2 O flux was positively correlated to air ( r = 0.58) and soil ( r = 0.49) temperatures under dry conditions, while no significant correlations to environmental factors were observed under ponded and moist conditions. Incorporating diurnal patterns in N 2 O fluxes in wetlands and other ecosystems can improve extrapolations from daily to annual flux calculations and constrain global N 2 O inventories.

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Source-reported bounding extent: 47.09° to 47.12° latitude; -99.12° to -99.09° longitude. This indicates report coverage, not an exact sampling location. View area on OpenStreetMap.

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Derek R. Faust, Brian Tangen, Sheel Bansal. 2025-12-18. Diurnal patterns of nitrous oxide fluxes from a seasonal prairie wetland. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-025-02017-4

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