Estimation of the balance of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide) between the atmosphere and agricultural fields in Hungary

(László Horváth)

After the Kyoto Protocol two inevitable tasks became highlighted: the quantity of the emitted greenhouse gases should be determined for all individual countries, and the possible ways of emission reduction have to be outlined. The primary aim of our project is to determine the amount of greenhouse gases (nitrous oxide, methane) emitted in Hungary, as well as the net flux of carbon dioxide over the agricultural fields and forests of Hungary. The applied research work estimates the agricultural emission of the atmospheric greenhouse gases taking into account the features of Hungary. Since the release of greenhouse gases depends on the method of cultivation (fertilization with natural or synthetical materials, grazing, irrigation), the project presents a suggestion for choosing cultivation strategies less loading the atmosphere.
In Europe, the centre of interest is more and more moved to the pollutants of global scale. The main reason is, first of all, that the emission of the polluting materials with short life-time, occurring on local-regional-continental scales, is found to be decreased in the last two decades. The reduction in the emission of pollutants from athropogenic sources (industry, power generation) laid stress upon the effects of the ambiguously anthropogenic sources, such as the greenhouse gas emission of the cultivated and non-cultivated (grazed, mown, forested) agricultural fields.
In the first phase of the project, a database of observed data was completed referring to the nitrous oxide emission of Hungarian agricultural and forest soils, the carbon dioxide flux of the agricultural soils, and the carbon dioxide fluxes in the atmosphere-surface-vegetation system. An emission inventory by cultivation methods was completed, where the portion of the cultivation methods (forests, field crops, ploughed lands, grass meadows, grazings) was determined on the base of the GIS database. A meteorological database necessary for modelling has been completed.
Documentation

The amount of N₂O emitted by different soils as the function of nitrogen-loading