Principal Investigator Shuhei Ono
Nitrous oxide (N2O) is both a significant greenhouse gas (radiative forcing in 2009 ~ 0.17 W/m2) and a large contributor to the catalytic destruction of the stratospheric ozone layer. Its mole fractions in the atmosphere continue to rise from a natural preindustrial value of ~270 ppb to ~322 ppb today.
We have funded from NSF (PI-Ron Prinn, Co-PI Ono, MIT, and David Nelson at Aerodyne Research) to develop and deploy an automated laser absorption spectroscopy to monitor isotopomer ratios of toropospheric nitrous oxide. The new instruments will monitor four isotopologues/isotopomers of nitrous oxide (15N14N16O, 14N15N16O, 14N14N18O and 14N14N16O) for every 30 minutes.