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Soil–Atmosphere Trace Gas Exchange in Semiarid and Arid Zones

^a CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, P.B.1 Aspendale Victoria, Australia 3195 & CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research & Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Accounting, P.B.1 Aspendale Victoria, Australia 3195
^b School of Applied Sciences and Engineering, Monash University-Gippsland, Northways Rd, Churchill Victoria, Australia 3142

^* Corresponding author (ian.galbally{at}csiro.au).

Received for publication October 12, 2006. A review is presented on trace gas exchange of CH₄, CO, N₂O, and NO_x arising from agriculture and natural sources in the world's semiarid and arid zones due to soil processes. These gases are important contributors to the radiative forcing and the chemistry of the atmosphere. Quantitative information is summarized from the available studies. Between 5 and 40% of the global soil–atmosphere exchange for these gases (CH₄, CO, N₂O, and NO_x) may occur in semiarid and arid zones, but for each of these gases there are fewer than a dozen studies to support the individual estimates, and these are from a limited number of locations. Significant differences in the biophysical and chemical processes controlling these trace gas exchanges are identified through the comparison of semiarid and arid zones with the moist temperate or wet/dry savanna land regions. Therefore, there is a poorly quantified understanding of the contribution of these regions to the global trace gas cycles and atmospheric chemistry. More importantly, there is a poor understanding of the feedback between these exchanges, global change, and regional land use and air pollution issues. A set of research issues is presented.

Abbreviations: P, precipitation • PET, potential evapotranspiration • WFPS, water-filled pore space