Global Legacy N2O Emission Factors for Wheat, Maize, and Rice

0.87 Tg N2O-N season-1 is the estimated total of fertilizer-induced direct and legacy nitrous oxide emissions from global wheat, maize, and rice production, a figure approximately 130% higher than IPCC tier 1 estimates. This dataset synthesizes global long-term field data (≥ 3 years) to map crop-specific legacy emission factors (EFL). It supports the development of more complete emission inventories and crop-specific nitrogen management strategies for climate-resilient agriculture.

Use Cases

• Refining IPCC-tier emission estimates based on synthesized global long-term field data.
• Mapping crop-specific legacy N2O emission factors (EFL) for wheat, maize, and rice.
• Quantifying the contribution of background emissions to total agricultural N2O output.
• Evaluating mitigation potential of improved nitrogen management on crop yields and emissions.

Strengths

• Derived from a global synthesis of long-term field data with a minimum study duration of 3 years.
• Provides specific, quantified legacy emission factors (EFL): 0.09% for wheat, 0.17% for maize, and 0.04% for rice.
• Dataset is openly available under a CC-BY-4.0 license, facilitating reuse and analysis.

Limitations

• Column names and a precise row count are not provided in the available metadata, limiting assessment of structure.
• The dataset's large size (~500 MB) may require significant computational resources for processing.
• Relies on inferred data types (tabular, geospatial) from described outputs (XLSX, TIF) rather than explicit documentation.

Provenance

Source

Zhaoxin Li

Collection Method

Synthesis of global long-term field data (≥ 3 years).

Freshness

Last updated on 2026-03-20.

Geography

Global