A new global potential energy surface is reported for the (4)A" ground electronic state of the N-3 system from double rnany-body expansion theory and an extensive set of accurate ab initio energies extrapolated to the complete basis set limit. It shows three equivalent metastable potential wells for C-2v geometries that are separated from the three N(S-4) + N-2 asymptotes by energy barriers as predicted from previous ab initio work. The potential well and barrier height now predicted lie 42.9 and 45.9 kcal mol(-1) above the atom-diatom dissociation limit, respectively, being about 1 kcal mol(-1) lower than previous theoretical estimates. The ab initio calculations here reported predict also a B-4(1)/(4)A(2) conical intersection and reveal a new minimum with D-3h symmetry that lies 147 kcal mol(-1) above the atom-diatom asymptote. All major topographical features of the potential energy Surface are accurately described by the DMBE function, including the weakly bound van der Waals minima at large atom-diatom separations.