A second derivative spectrometer custom fitted with a 1 m stainless steel White cell and maintained at 105°C is used to make real-time measurements of volatilized NH3 from urea-amended soil. Comparison of the technique to impinger data shows a 5-16% discrepancy between the two techniques; however, other experiments presented suggests that this is not real. Sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxide interferences are discussed, though they were not found to be present in this study. Instrument response time is shown to be fast if 67% of the total response is achieved in less than 5 min. Fast response is achieved for ammonia if wall-adsorption effects are minimal and if ammonia mass flow is maintained at 0.2 μg min(-1).