Extreme enrichment in atmospheric 15N15N

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dc.citation.articleNumbereaao6741
dc.citation.issueNumber11
dc.citation.journalTitleScience Advances
dc.citation.volumeNumber3
dc.contributor.authorYeung, Laurence Y.
dc.contributor.authorLi, Shuning
dc.contributor.authorKohl, Issaku E.
dc.contributor.authorHaslun, Joshua A.
dc.contributor.authorOstrom, Nathaniel E.
dc.contributor.authorHu, Huanting
dc.contributor.authorFischer, Tobias P.
dc.contributor.authorSchauble, Edwin A.
dc.contributor.authorYoung, Edward D.
dc.date.accessioned2017-12-19T15:24:09Z
dc.date.available2017-12-19T15:24:09Z
dc.date.issued2017
dc.description.abstractMolecular nitrogen (N2) comprises three-quarters of Earth’s atmosphere and significant portions of other planetary atmospheres. We report a 19 per mil (‰) excess of 15N15N in air relative to a random distribution of nitrogen isotopes, an enrichment that is 10 times larger than what isotopic equilibration in the atmosphere allows. Biological experiments show that the main sources and sinks of N2 yield much smaller proportions of 15N15N in N2. Electrical discharge experiments, however, establish 15N15N excesses of up to +23‰. We argue that 15N15N accumulates in the atmosphere because of gas-phase chemistry in the thermosphere (>100 km altitude) on time scales comparable to those of biological cycling. The atmospheric 15N15N excess therefore reflects a planetary-scale balance of biogeochemical and atmospheric nitrogen chemistry, one that may also exist on other planets.
dc.identifier.citationYeung, Laurence Y., Li, Shuning, Kohl, Issaku E., et al.. "Extreme enrichment in atmospheric 15N15N." <i>Science Advances,</i> 3, no. 11 (2017) AAAS: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aao6741.
dc.identifier.digitaleaao6741-full
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aao6741
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/98895
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherAAAS
dc.rightsThis is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license, which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, so long as the resultant use is not for commercial advantage and provided the original work is properly cited.
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
dc.titleExtreme enrichment in atmospheric 15N15N
dc.typeJournal article
dc.type.dcmiText
dc.type.publicationpublisher version
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