Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Enhanced methane emissions from tropical wetlands during the 2011 la Niña

Pandey, Sudhanshu ; Houweling, Sander ; Krol, Maarten ; Aben, Ilse ; Monteil, Guillaume LU orcid ; Nechita-Banda, Narcisa ; Dlugokencky, Edward J ; Detmers, Rob ; Hasekamp, Otto and Xu, Xiyan , et al. (2017) In Scientific Reports 7.
Abstract

Year-to-year variations in the atmospheric methane (CH4) growth rate show significant correlation with climatic drivers. The second half of 2010 and the first half of 2011 experienced the strongest La Niña since the early 1980s, when global surface networks started monitoring atmospheric CH4 mole fractions. We use these surface measurements, retrievals of column-averaged CH4 mole fractions from GOSAT, new wetland inundation estimates, and atmospheric δ13C-CH4 measurements to estimate the impact of this strong La Niña on the global atmospheric CH4 budget. By performing atmospheric inversions, we find evidence of an increase in tropical CH4 emissions of ∼6-9... (More)

Year-to-year variations in the atmospheric methane (CH4) growth rate show significant correlation with climatic drivers. The second half of 2010 and the first half of 2011 experienced the strongest La Niña since the early 1980s, when global surface networks started monitoring atmospheric CH4 mole fractions. We use these surface measurements, retrievals of column-averaged CH4 mole fractions from GOSAT, new wetland inundation estimates, and atmospheric δ13C-CH4 measurements to estimate the impact of this strong La Niña on the global atmospheric CH4 budget. By performing atmospheric inversions, we find evidence of an increase in tropical CH4 emissions of ∼6-9 TgCH4 yr-1 during this event. Stable isotope data suggest that biogenic sources are the cause of this emission increase. We find a simultaneous expansion of wetland area, driven by the excess precipitation over the Tropical continents during the La Niña. Two process-based wetland models predict increases in wetland area consistent with observationally-constrained values, but substantially smaller per-area CH4 emissions, highlighting the need for improvements in such models. Overall, tropical wetland emissions during the strong La Niña were at least by 5% larger than the long-term mean.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and , et al. (More)
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and (Less)
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Scientific Reports
volume
7
article number
45759
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • scopus:85017314264
  • pmid:28393869
  • wos:000398959900001
ISSN
2045-2322
DOI
10.1038/srep45759
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
4da90de2-aeb8-4d11-b1c2-8a7c6c3412fe
date added to LUP
2017-04-26 14:33:42
date last changed
2024-06-09 15:17:25
@article{4da90de2-aeb8-4d11-b1c2-8a7c6c3412fe,
  abstract     = {{<p>Year-to-year variations in the atmospheric methane (CH<sub>4</sub>) growth rate show significant correlation with climatic drivers. The second half of 2010 and the first half of 2011 experienced the strongest La Niña since the early 1980s, when global surface networks started monitoring atmospheric CH<sub>4</sub> mole fractions. We use these surface measurements, retrievals of column-averaged CH<sub>4</sub> mole fractions from GOSAT, new wetland inundation estimates, and atmospheric δ<sup>13</sup>C-CH<sub>4</sub> measurements to estimate the impact of this strong La Niña on the global atmospheric CH<sub>4</sub> budget. By performing atmospheric inversions, we find evidence of an increase in tropical CH<sub>4</sub> emissions of ∼6-9 TgCH<sub>4</sub> yr<sup>-1</sup> during this event. Stable isotope data suggest that biogenic sources are the cause of this emission increase. We find a simultaneous expansion of wetland area, driven by the excess precipitation over the Tropical continents during the La Niña. Two process-based wetland models predict increases in wetland area consistent with observationally-constrained values, but substantially smaller per-area CH<sub>4</sub> emissions, highlighting the need for improvements in such models. Overall, tropical wetland emissions during the strong La Niña were at least by 5% larger than the long-term mean.</p>}},
  author       = {{Pandey, Sudhanshu and Houweling, Sander and Krol, Maarten and Aben, Ilse and Monteil, Guillaume and Nechita-Banda, Narcisa and Dlugokencky, Edward J and Detmers, Rob and Hasekamp, Otto and Xu, Xiyan and Riley, William J. and Poulter, Benjamin and Zhang, Zhen and McDonald, Kyle C. and White, James W C and Bousquet, Philippe and Röckmann, Thomas}},
  issn         = {{2045-2322}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{04}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Scientific Reports}},
  title        = {{Enhanced methane emissions from tropical wetlands during the 2011 la Niña}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep45759}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/srep45759}},
  volume       = {{7}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}