Western Arctic Ocean could be a nitrous oxide hotspot under a warming climate

Unusually high temperatures (shown in shades of orange and red) have become more common in the Arctic. Credit: National Snow and Ice Data Center

A recent Nature Scientific Reports study, supported by CPO’s Climate Variability and Predictability (CVP) program, warns that if the Arctic continues to warm, the western Arctic Ocean could be a future hot spot and source of nitrous oxide. Like carbon dioxide or methane, nitrous oxide is directly linked to climate change, contributing to both the greenhouse effect and ozone depletion.

In 2017, South Korea led a large Arctic Ocean research project which included fieldwork and data collection on the icebreaker R/V Araon that led to this study. Alison Macdonald, with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and funded by CVP, contributed to this study which focuses on the distribution of nitrous oxide in the western Arctic Ocean.

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