Scientist Empa: Erkan Ibraim (PhD student, Prof. J. Six ETHZ)

Collaboration with Prof. Klaus Butterbach-Bahl, PD Dr. Ralf Kiese, Dr. Benjamin Wolf (IMK-IFU, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany)

In an ongoing SNSF (D-A-CH) funded cooperative project (Trace N₂O) of Empa, IMK-IFU (Germany) and ETHZ, continuous N₂O isotope measurements with TREX-QCLAS (E. Ibraim et al., 2017) at the Beromünster tall tower are combined with backward Lagrangian particle dispersion modeling (FLEXPART-COSMO). In addition, an inversion system will be set up to determine the source strengths of total N₂O and its isotopic signatures in northern Switzerland.

In a complementary “bottom-up” approach, a state of the art biogeochemical model (LandscapeDNDC) will be extended with a sub-module capable of simulating isotopic signatures of N₂O emitted from soils. This complementary approach will allow us to evaluate the consistency between biogeochemistry modeling and observations and identifying weaknesses in our current understanding of the N turnover processes.

Ibraim, E., Wolf, B., Harris, E., Gasche, R., Wei, J., Yu, L., … Mohn, J. (2019). Attribution of N2O sources in a grassland soil with laser spectroscopy based isotopocule analysis. Biogeosciences, 16(16), 3247-3266. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-3247-2019
Detailed Record

Ibraim, E., Harris, E., Eyer, S., Tuzson, B., Emmenegger, L., Six, J., & Mohn, J. (2018). Development of a field-deployable method for simultaneous, real-time measurements of the four most abundant N2O isotopocules. Isotopes in Environmental and Health Studies, 54(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/10256016.2017.1345902
Detailed Record

To learn more about ongoing projects please click here.