Last reviewed on 12-01-2023

Documentation of California's Greenhouse Gas Inventory (2023 Edition - Last updated on 12-1-2023)

♦ Category: Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use

IPCC: 3C5 - Aggregate Sources and Non-CO2 Emissions Sources on Land - Indirect N2O Emissions from Managed Soils
Sector: Agriculture & Forestry : Ag Soil Management : Fertilizer : Indirect

♦ Activity: Nitrogen applied in fertilizer - Organic fertilizers

♦ Greenhouse gas: Nitrous oxide ( N2O )

► Year 2015 —

● Greenhouse gas emission estimate —

Amount: 39.54 tonnes of N2O Emitted (11,782 tonnes CO2 Eq.)
Basis: Calculation
Calculation: ([Nitrogen applied in fertilizer] * [Short ton to gram conversion]) * ([Volatilization rate] * [Redeposited nitrogen emitted as N2O]+[Leaching rate]*[Leached nitrogen emitted as N2O]) * [Molecular weight ratio of N2O to N2]
Reference: IPCC (2006). 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Prepared by the National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programmed, Eggleston HAS., Biennia L., Miwa K., Negara T. and Tanabe K. (eds). Vol.4, Chap. 11: Managed Soils. Published: IGES, Japan. https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/vol4.html

● Activity level used in calculations —

Activity: Nitrogen applied in fertilizer = 6,527 ton of Organic fertilizers
Basis: Data
Reference: CDFA (various years). Fertilizing Materials Tonnage Report, (published bi-annually). California Department of Food and Agriculture. http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/is/ffldrs/Fertilizer_Tonnage.html

● Parameters and Constants used in calculations —

Parameter: Leached nitrogen emitted as N2O = 7.500E-03
Reference: IPCC (2006). 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Prepared by the National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programmed, Eggleston HAS., Biennia L., Miwa K., Negara T. and Tanabe K. (eds). Vol.4, Chap. 11: Managed Soils. Published: IGES, Japan. https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/vol4.html
Parameter: Leaching rate = 0.3
Reference: IPCC (2006). 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Prepared by the National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programmed, Eggleston HAS., Biennia L., Miwa K., Negara T. and Tanabe K. (eds). Vol.4, Chap. 11: Managed Soils. Published: IGES, Japan. https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/vol4.html
Parameter: Nitrogen emitted as N2O = 0.01 g / g
Reference: IPCC (2006). 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Prepared by the National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programmed, Eggleston HAS., Biennia L., Miwa K., Negara T. and Tanabe K. (eds). Vol.4, Chap. 11: Managed Soils. Published: IGES, Japan. https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/vol4.html
Parameter: Redeposited nitrogen emitted as N2O = 0.01 g / g
Reference: IPCC (2006). 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Prepared by the National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programmed, Eggleston HAS., Biennia L., Miwa K., Negara T. and Tanabe K. (eds). Vol.4, Chap. 11: Managed Soils. Published: IGES, Japan. https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/vol4.html
Parameter: Volatilization rate = 0.2 g / g
Reference: IPCC (2006). 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Prepared by the National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programmed, Eggleston HAS., Biennia L., Miwa K., Negara T. and Tanabe K. (eds). Vol.4, Chap. 11: Managed Soils. Published: IGES, Japan. https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/vol4.html
Constant: Molecular weight ratio of N2O to N2 = 1.571133815
Reference: IUPAC (2006). Atomic Weights of the Elements 2005 (IUPAC Technical Report). Pure Appl. Chem., Vol. 78, No. 11, pp. 2051–2066, 2006.
Constant: Short ton to gram conversion = 907184.7 g / ton
Reference: NIST (2008). Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI). Ambler Thompson & Barry N. Taylor (Ed.). NIST Special Publication 811, 2008 edition. National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD. http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/pdf/sp811.pdf
Constant: Global warming potential of N2O = 298
Reference: IPCC (2007). Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Solomon S., Qin D., Manning M., Chen Z., Marquis M., Averyt K.B., Tignor M., and Miller H.L. (eds.). http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_ipcc_fourth_assessment_report_synthesis_report.htm

● Greenhouse gas emitted per unit activity (derived from values listed above) —

Amount: 6,058 g (i.e. 6.06 kg) of N2O per ton of Organic fertilizers
1,805,153 g (i.e. 1.81 tonnes) of CO2eq. per ton of Organic fertilizers