Other Names
Nitrous oxide, N2O, Laughing gas
Definition
Nitrous oxide (N2O), a colorless gas, is a major greenhouse gas that absorbs infrared radiations.
Near the surface, it is naturally produced through bacteriological decomposition of organic matter. The main anthropogenic sources are from agriculture and number of industrial processes. From the troposphere it gets transported to the stratosphere. Nitrous oxide is removed mainly by the photolysis. It has a long lifetime of about 160 years. It is currently present at a level of about 330 ppb. In large amounts, it has anesthetic properties (laughing gas) and is used in the medicine.
Applications
| (1) Atmospheric Chemistry Models | (3) Health and Environment |
| (2) Air Quality Forecast Models | (4) Climate Change |
GES DISC Datasets
Other sources for data