Nitrous oxide as a function of oxygen and archaeal gene abundance in the North Pacific

Oceanic oxygen minimum zones are strong sources of the potent greenhouse gas N 2 O but its microbial source is unclear. We characterized an exponential response in N 2 O production to decreasing oxygen between 1 and 30 μmol O 2 l −1 within and below the oxycline using 15 NO 2 − , a relationship that held along a 550 km offshore transect in the North Pacific. Differences in the overall magnitude of N 2 O production were accounted for by archaeal functional gene abundance. A one-dimensional (1D) model, parameterized with our experimentally derived exponential terms, accurately reproduces N 2 O profiles in the top 350 m of water column and, together with a strong 45 N 2 O signature indicated neither canonical nor nitrifier–denitrification production while statistical modelling supported production by archaea, possibly via hybrid N 2 O formation. Further, with just archaeal N 2 O production, we could balance high-resolution estimates of sea-to-air N 2 O exchange. Hence, a significant source of N 2 O, previously described as leakage from bacterial ammonium oxidation, is better described by low-oxygen archaeal production at the oxygen minimum zone’s margins. Understanding the production processes behind oceanic sources of nitrous oxide (N 2 O), a potent greenhouse gas, is of critical importance. Here, the authors reveal an archaeal-mediated N 2 O production pathway in the North Pacific, which increases exponentially with decreasing oxygen.