An estimate of the global sink for nitrous oxide in soils.

A literature survey of studies reporting nitrous oxide uptake in the soils of natural ecosystems is used to suggest that the median uptake potential is 4 μg m(-2) h(-1). The highest values are nearly all associated with soils of wetland and peatland ecosystems. Globally, the consumption of nitrous oxide in soils is not likely to exceed 0.3 TgN yr(-1), indicating that the projected sink is not more than 2% of current estimated sources of N(2)O in the atmosphere.