Nitrous oxide in the Arabian Sea

Abstract

Measurements of nitrous oxide (N2O) at 16 stations in the Arabian Sea reveal high degrees of surface saturation (186 plus or minus 37%) and consequently large atmospheric fluxes of N2O (4.46 plus or minus 2.60 mu mol m-2day-1). Vertical distribution of N2O in the Arabian Sea conforms to the trends seen in other oxygen-deficient environments, with minimal values occuring within the secondary nitrite maximum and the maxima in the N2O profiles located at the peripheries of this layer. Outside the denitrification zone, only one broad maximum is observed at mid-depth. The mechanisms proposed for the production of N2O from the western North Pacific Ocean. It is proposed that a nitrification-denitrification couple represented the pathway NH4u+ to NO to N2O may be a potentially dominant mechanism for N2O production in the ocean.