Dissolved nitrous oxide distribution in the central South Pacific

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is an important atmospheric trace gas involved in tropospheric warming and stratospheric ozone depletion. The ocean is a net source of this gas, contributing around 25% of global N2O sources, although this emission is highly variable. It is the case of eastern South Pacific, a region with marked zonal gradients, ranging from highly productive and suboxic conditions in coastal upwelling systems to oligotrophic and oxygenated conditions in the subtropical gyre. Indeed, South Pacific Ocean has the largest permanent anticyclonic oceanic gyre which has been described as the most oligotrophic zone in the world ocean. Nitrous oxide concentration in the water column was measured on a transect crossing the Subtropical South Pacific Gyre during the BIOSOPE cruise (austral spring, 2004). This dataset includes nitrous oxide and nutrient concentrations at different depths from French program BIOSOPE, funded by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), the Institut des Sciences de l'Univers (INSU), the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), the European Space Agency (ESA), The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). Nitrous oxide measurements belong to Concepción University.