Journal
SCIENCE ADVANCES
Volume 4, Issue 1, Pages -Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aao3477
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Funding
- NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology [1611895]
- Major State Basic Research Development Program of China [2014CB954400]
- NSF CAREER Grant [1411368]
- Dave and Lucile Packard Foundation
- California Agricultural Experiment Station, Hatch project [CA-D-LAW-2229-H]
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through the Bay Area Air Quality Management District [2016-129]
- Direct For Biological Sciences
- Division Of Environmental Biology [1150246] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Directorate For Geosciences [1411368] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Division Of Earth Sciences [1411368] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Div Of Biological Infrastructure
- Direct For Biological Sciences [1611895] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Nitrogen oxides (NOx = NO + NO2) are a primary component of air pollution-a leading cause of premature death in humans and biodiversity declines worldwide. Although regulatory policies in California have successfully limited transportation sources of NOx pollution, several of the United States' worst-air quality districts remain in rural regions of the state. Site-based findings suggest that NOx emissions from California's agricultural soils could contribute to air quality issues; however, a statewide estimate is hitherto lacking. We show that agricultural soils are a dominant source of NOx pollution in California, with especially high soil NOx emissions from the state's Central Valley region. We base our conclusion on two independent approaches: (i) a bottom-up spatial model of soil NOx emissions and (ii) top-down airborne observations of atmospheric NOx concentrations over the San Joaquin Valley. These approaches point to a large, overlooked NOx source from cropland soil, which is estimated to increase the NOx budget by 20 to 51%. These estimates are consistent with previous studies of point-scale measurements of NOx emissions from the soil. Our results highlight opportunities to limit NOx emissions from agriculture by investing in management practices that will bring co-benefits to the economy, ecosystems, and human health in rural areas of California.
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