Present and historical Nitrous Oxide N₂O levels

Atmospheric N₂O Levels Graph

This graph features atmospheric nitrous oxide levels and temperature that combine measurements from as far back as 800,000 years up to the present day. The graph is customizable and can be resized, printed, or pasted into your website. This is a free service, but we do ask for a donation if you find this useful. This is a project of the 2 Degrees Institute, a non-profit organization.

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An atmospheric nitrous oxide graph for researchers and educators

Key features

Real-time and Historical data

Since 1978, globally-averaged N2O levels have been collected and updated monthly as new samples are added to the analysis. For the most recent data for 2024 preliminary data from the slopes of Moana Loa, Hawaii is used. Prior to 1978, N₂O levels have been extracted from ice core data from Antarctica. Temperature overlay as well as the ability to switch to other greenhouse gases are available from the graph menu. Learn more about the data sources.

Free Nitrous Oxide Levels Graph

This interactive graph is free to use on your website. Simply choose your color theme and then copy and paste 2 lines of code. Data and source code is hosted on our servers so you do not have to worry about using up your server's bandwidth. New N2O measurement data is updated automatically when new data becomes available and temperature data is updated monthly.

Zoomable and Printable

View atmospheric N₂O levels over a span of thousands of years or zoom to specific time periods. Use your fingers to pinch and zoom on a handheld device or use a mouse with a computer. Export the chart to PNG, JPG, PDF or SVG format with the click of a button or print the chart directly from the web page.

Customizable and Responsive

Choose from 4 color themes to match your website's look and feel. Customize the width and height of your graph or have it fill your entire screen. The nitrous oxide graph is responsive and can automatically resize to fit whatever device or screen size it is being viewed on.

You may enjoy this software for free under a Creative Commons (CC) Attribution-NonCommercial licence.

800,000 years ago - 2000 years ago

Changes in past atmospheric nitrous oxide concentrations can be determined by measuring the composition of air trapped in ice cores from Antarctica. So far, the Antarctic Vostok and EPICA Dome C ice cores have provided a composite record of atmospheric nitrous oxide levels over the past 800,000 years.

Credits: MIS 7.5 to 11 and MIS 17 to 19: Schilt, A., M. Baumgartner, T. Blunier, J. Schwander, R. Spahni, H. Fischer, T.F. Stocker. 2010. Glacial-Interglacial and Millennial Scale Variations in the Atmospheric Nitrous Oxide Concentration during the last 800,000 Years. Quaternary Science Reviews, 29, 182-192.

MIS 3 to 7.3 and MIS 13 to 15: Spahni, R., J. Chappellaz, T.F. Stocker, L. Loulergue, G. Hausammann, K. Kawamura, J. Fluckiger, J. Schwander, D. Raynaud, V. Masson-Delmotte, and J. Jouzel. 2005. Atmospheric methane and nitrous oxide of the late Pleistocene from Antarctic ice cores. Science 310, 1317-1321, 2005. More...

Learn about temperature data sources.

An ice core from the Law Dome site used in the study (Photo: Vin Morgan)

2000 years ago - 1977

Law Dome ice core (DSS, DE08 and DE08-2) and firn air (DSSW20K) N2O concentrations for the past 2000 years.

Credits: Etheridge, D.M., L.P. Steele, R.L. Langenfelds, R.J. Francey, J.-M. Barnola, and V.I. Morgan. 1996. Natural and anthropogenic changes in atmospheric CO2 over the last 1000 years from air in Antarctic ice and firn. Journal of Geophysical Research, 101, 4115-4128.

Etheridge, D.M., L.P. Steele, R.J. Francey, and R.L. Langenfelds. 1998. Atmospheric methane between 1000 A.D. and present: evidence of anthropogenic emissions and climatic variability. Journal of Geophysical Research, 103, 15979-15996.

MacFarling Meure, C., D. Etheridge, C. Trudinger, P. Steele, R. Langenfelds, T. van Ommen, A. Smith, and J. Elkins. 2006. The Law Dome CO2, CH4 and N2O Ice Core Records Extended to 2000 years BP. Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 33, No. 14, L14810 10.1029/2006GL026152. More...

Learn about temperature data sources.

Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii (Photo:Jonathan Kingston/National Geographic/Getty Images)

1978 - Present Day

Nitrous Oxide (N2O) hemispheric and global monthly means used from the NOAA/ESRL halocarbons program. A combined data set is used from two or more measurement programs. Weighted averages of monthly mean data are combined, interpolated, and smoothed for each sampling location. Hemispheric and global means are estimated by cosine weighting by latitude. (Combined Nitrous Oxide data from the NOAA/ESRL Global Monitoring Division)

Nitrous Oxide (N2O) data for the current year (2024) is from in situ samples analyzed on a gas chromatograph located at Mauna Loa (MLO), Hawaii as part of the NOAA/ESRL halocarbons in situ program. This data should be considered preliminary and will be replaced with official averaged data at the end of this year (2024).

Credits: Dr. James Elkins (NOAA), Dr. Ed Dlugokencky (NOAA), Dr. Bradley Hall (NOAA), Dr. Geoff Dutton (NOAA), Dr. David Nanc, Dr. Debra Mondeel (NOAA)

Learn about temperature data sources.

You may enjoy this software for free under a Creative Commons (CC) Attribution-NonCommercial licence.

Getting the Data Right.