Critical needs to close monitoring gaps in pan-tropical wetland CH4 emissions
(2024) In Environmental Research Letters 19(11).- Abstract
Global wetlands are the largest and most uncertain natural source of atmospheric methane (CH4). The FLUXNET-CH4 synthesis initiative has established a global network of flux tower infrastructure, offering valuable data products and fostering a dedicated community for the measurement and analysis of methane flux data. Existing studies using the FLUXNET-CH4 Community Product v1.0 have provided invaluable insights into the drivers of ecosystem-to-regional spatial patterns and daily-to-decadal temporal dynamics in temperate, boreal, and Arctic climate regions. However, as the wetland CH4 monitoring network grows, there is a critical knowledge gap about where new monitoring infrastructure ought to... (More)
Global wetlands are the largest and most uncertain natural source of atmospheric methane (CH4). The FLUXNET-CH4 synthesis initiative has established a global network of flux tower infrastructure, offering valuable data products and fostering a dedicated community for the measurement and analysis of methane flux data. Existing studies using the FLUXNET-CH4 Community Product v1.0 have provided invaluable insights into the drivers of ecosystem-to-regional spatial patterns and daily-to-decadal temporal dynamics in temperate, boreal, and Arctic climate regions. However, as the wetland CH4 monitoring network grows, there is a critical knowledge gap about where new monitoring infrastructure ought to be located to improve understanding of the global wetland CH4 budget. Here we address this gap with a spatial representativeness analysis at existing and hypothetical observation sites, using 16 process-based wetland biogeochemistry models and machine learning. We find that, in addition to eddy covariance monitoring sites, existing chamber sites are important complements, especially over high latitudes and the tropics. Furthermore, expanding the current monitoring network for wetland CH4 emissions should prioritize, first, tropical and second, sub-tropical semi-arid wetland regions. Considering those new hypothetical wetland sites from tropical and semi-arid climate zones could significantly improve global estimates of wetland CH4 emissions and reduce bias by 79% (from 76 to 16 TgCH4 y−1), compared with using solely existing monitoring networks. Our study thus demonstrates an approach for long-term strategic expansion of flux observations.
(Less)
- author
- Zhu, Qing
; Yuan, Kunxiaojia
; Li, Fa
; Riley, William J.
; Hoyt, Alison
; Jackson, Robert
; McNicol, Gavin
; Chen, Min
; Knox, Sara H.
; Briner, Otto
; Beerling, David
; Gedney, Nicola
; Hopcroft, Peter O.
; Ito, Akihito
; Jain, Atul K.
; Jensen, Katherine
; Kleinen, Thomas
; Li, Tingting
; Liu, Xiangyu
; McDonald, Kyle C.
; Melton, Joe R.
; Miller, Paul A.
LU
; Müller, Jurek
; Peng, Changhui
; Poulter, Benjamin
; Qin, Zhangcai
; Peng, Shushi
; Tian, Hanqin
; Xu, Xiaoming
; Yao, Yuanzhi
; Xi, Yi
; Zhang, Zhen
; Zhang, Wenxin
LU
; Zhu, Qiuan
and Zhuang, Qianlai
(Less) - organization
- publishing date
- 2024-11-01
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- CH4 emissions, global freshwater wetlands, spatial representativeness
- in
- Environmental Research Letters
- volume
- 19
- issue
- 11
- article number
- 114046
- publisher
- IOP Publishing
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85207041180
- ISSN
- 1748-9326
- DOI
- 10.1088/1748-9326/ad8019
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd.
- id
- 9cb55435-45cc-4fe4-917e-508d705983f7
- date added to LUP
- 2024-11-04 19:30:56
- date last changed
- 2025-04-07 08:21:15
@article{9cb55435-45cc-4fe4-917e-508d705983f7,
abstract = {{<p>Global wetlands are the largest and most uncertain natural source of atmospheric methane (CH<sub>4</sub>). The FLUXNET-CH<sub>4</sub> synthesis initiative has established a global network of flux tower infrastructure, offering valuable data products and fostering a dedicated community for the measurement and analysis of methane flux data. Existing studies using the FLUXNET-CH<sub>4</sub> Community Product v1.0 have provided invaluable insights into the drivers of ecosystem-to-regional spatial patterns and daily-to-decadal temporal dynamics in temperate, boreal, and Arctic climate regions. However, as the wetland CH<sub>4</sub> monitoring network grows, there is a critical knowledge gap about where new monitoring infrastructure ought to be located to improve understanding of the global wetland CH<sub>4</sub> budget. Here we address this gap with a spatial representativeness analysis at existing and hypothetical observation sites, using 16 process-based wetland biogeochemistry models and machine learning. We find that, in addition to eddy covariance monitoring sites, existing chamber sites are important complements, especially over high latitudes and the tropics. Furthermore, expanding the current monitoring network for wetland CH<sub>4</sub> emissions should prioritize, first, tropical and second, sub-tropical semi-arid wetland regions. Considering those new hypothetical wetland sites from tropical and semi-arid climate zones could significantly improve global estimates of wetland CH<sub>4</sub> emissions and reduce bias by 79% (from 76 to 16 TgCH<sub>4</sub> y<sup>−1</sup>), compared with using solely existing monitoring networks. Our study thus demonstrates an approach for long-term strategic expansion of flux observations.</p>}},
author = {{Zhu, Qing and Yuan, Kunxiaojia and Li, Fa and Riley, William J. and Hoyt, Alison and Jackson, Robert and McNicol, Gavin and Chen, Min and Knox, Sara H. and Briner, Otto and Beerling, David and Gedney, Nicola and Hopcroft, Peter O. and Ito, Akihito and Jain, Atul K. and Jensen, Katherine and Kleinen, Thomas and Li, Tingting and Liu, Xiangyu and McDonald, Kyle C. and Melton, Joe R. and Miller, Paul A. and Müller, Jurek and Peng, Changhui and Poulter, Benjamin and Qin, Zhangcai and Peng, Shushi and Tian, Hanqin and Xu, Xiaoming and Yao, Yuanzhi and Xi, Yi and Zhang, Zhen and Zhang, Wenxin and Zhu, Qiuan and Zhuang, Qianlai}},
issn = {{1748-9326}},
keywords = {{CH4 emissions; global freshwater wetlands; spatial representativeness}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{11}},
number = {{11}},
publisher = {{IOP Publishing}},
series = {{Environmental Research Letters}},
title = {{Critical needs to close monitoring gaps in pan-tropical wetland CH<sub>4</sub> emissions}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad8019}},
doi = {{10.1088/1748-9326/ad8019}},
volume = {{19}},
year = {{2024}},
}