This paper introduces a new inversion framework for N2O using GEOS-Chem and its adjoint, which we employed in a series of observing system simulation experiments to evaluate the source and sink constraints provided by surface and aircraft-based N2O measurements. We also applied a new approach for estimating a posteriori uncertainty for high-dimensional inversions, and used it to quantify the spatial and temporal resolution of N2O emission constraints achieved with the current observing network.