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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">ESSDD</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>Earth System Science Data Discussions</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">ESSDD</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss.</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub">1866-3591</issn>
<publisher><publisher-name></publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/essd-2026-259</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Nitrous oxide and methane concentrations and air-sea fluxes in undersampled areas of the Mediterranean basin</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>de la Paz</surname>
<given-names>Mercedes</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9267-930X</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Flecha</surname>
<given-names>Susana</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2826-5820</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Bouthir</surname>
<given-names>Fatima Zohra</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Fahkri</surname>
<given-names>Milad</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Hassoun</surname>
<given-names>Abed El Rahman</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1940-215X</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff5">
<sup>5</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Ibello</surname>
<given-names>Valeria</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff6">
<sup>6</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Özkan</surname>
<given-names>Korhan</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1911-6508</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff6">
<sup>6</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Pérez</surname>
<given-names>Fiz</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4836-8974</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Chair</surname>
<given-names>Adil</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Hendriks</surname>
<given-names>Iris</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2238-6018</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff7">
<sup>7</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas (IIM‐CSIC), Vigo, Spain</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Instituto de Ciencias Marinas de Andalucía (ICMAN-CSIC), Puerto Real, Cádiz, Spain</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>Institut National de Recherche Halieutique (INRH), Casablanca, Morocco</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff4">
<label>4</label>
<addr-line>National Centre for Marine Sciences, National Council for Scientific Research in Lebanon (CNRS-L), Beirut, Lebanon</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff5">
<label>5</label>
<addr-line>GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff6">
<label>6</label>
<addr-line>Middle East Technical University, Institute of Marine Sciences, Mersin, Türkiye</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff7">
<label>7</label>
<addr-line>Climate Change Research Group. Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (IMEDEA-CSIC), Esporles, Spain</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>04</day>
<month>05</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>27</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Mercedes de la Paz et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2026-259/">This article is available from https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2026-259/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2026-259/essd-2026-259.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2026-259/essd-2026-259.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>Nitrous oxide (N&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O) and methane (CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;) are potent greenhouse gases for which oceanic contributions remain uncertain, particularly in undersampled regions like the Southwest and Southeast margins of the Mediterranean Sea, where there is a major observational gap. This data paper presents a comprehensive dataset of monthly N&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O and CH&lt;sub&gt;4 &lt;/sub&gt;concentrations and air-sea fluxes collected over a full seasonal cycle (April 2023 &amp;ndash; June 2024 at most sites, with one station extended to September 2024) from eight coastal stations across three distinct Mediterranean ecoregions (Alboran, Balearic, and Levantine Seas) as part of the ROADSTER collaborative project. Sampling, preservation, and analytical procedures were standardized across sites, and dissolved-gas analyses were performed in a single laboratory to ensure comparability. We detail standardized sampling and analytical methodologies, including ancillary variables (temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll &lt;em&gt;a&lt;/em&gt; and inorganic nutrients). The complied dataset reveals distinct seasonal and spatial variability: N&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O concentrations exhibit a strong negative correlation with temperature, with all stations acting as moderate N₂O sources. Conversely, CH₄ concentrations show greater variability and a positive correlation with temperature, with the Levantine sub-basin stations displaying episodic high-flux events (up to 35.20 &amp;mu;mol m⁻&amp;sup2; d⁻&amp;sup1;) indicative of localized seafloor sources. This dataset bridges significant data gaps in the Mediterranean, providing a crucial baseline for regional climate modeling, understanding biogeochemical processes, and future climate change impact assessments.</p>
</abstract>
<counts><page-count count="27"/></counts>
<funding-group>
<award-group id="gs1">
<funding-source>Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas</funding-source>
<award-id>COOPB22023 of the i-COOP 2022</award-id>
</award-group>
</funding-group>
</article-meta>
</front>
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