Journal article
Half of global methane emissions come from highly variable aquatic ecosystem sources
Nature Geoscience, Vol.14(4), pp.225-230
01/04/2021
Metrics
98 Record Views
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:
Source: InCites
Abstract
Atmospheric methane is a potent greenhouse gas that plays a major role in controlling the Earth’s climate. The causes of the renewed increase of methane concentration since 2007 are uncertain given the multiple sources and complex biogeochemistry. Here, we present a metadata analysis of methane fluxes from all major natural, impacted and human-made aquatic ecosystems. Our revised bottom-up global aquatic methane emissions combine diffusive, ebullitive and/or plant-mediated fluxes from 15 aquatic ecosystems. We emphasize the high variability of methane fluxes within and between aquatic ecosystems and a positively skewed distribution of empirical data, making global estimates sensitive to statistical assumptions and sampling design. We find aquatic ecosystems contribute (median) 41% or (mean) 53% of total global methane emissions from anthropogenic and natural sources. We show that methane emissions increase from natural to impacted aquatic ecosystems and from coastal to freshwater ecosystems. We argue that aquatic emissions will probably increase due to urbanization, eutrophication and positive climate feedbacks and suggest changes in land-use management as potential mitigation strategies to reduce aquatic methane emissions. Methane emissions from aquatic systems contribute approximately half of global methane emissions, according to meta-analysis of natural, impacted and human-made aquatic ecosystems and indicating potential mitigation strategies to reduce emissions.
Details
- Title
- Half of global methane emissions come from highly variable aquatic ecosystem sources
- Creators
- Judith A Rosentreter (Author) - Southern Cross UniversityBorges Alberto V (Author) - University of LiègeDeemer Bridget R (Author) - US Geological Survey - Southwest Biological Science CenterHolgerson Meredith A (Author) - St. Olaf CollegeLiu Shaoda (Author) - Yale UniversitySong Chunlin (Author) - Chinese Academy of SciencesMelack John (Author) - University of California, Santa BarbaraRaymond Peter A (Author) - Yale UniversityDuarte Carlos M (Author) - King Abdullah University of Science and TechnologyAllen George H (Author) - Texas A&M UniversityOlefeldt David (Author) - University of AlbertaPoulter Benjamin (Author) - NASA Goddard Space Flight CenterBattin Tom I (Author) - École Polytechnique Fédérale de LausanneBradley D Eyre (Author) - Southern Cross University
- Publication Details
- Nature Geoscience, Vol.14(4), pp.225-230
- Publisher
- Nature Publishing Group; London
- Identifiers
- 991012932299602368
- Academic Unit
- Centre for Coastal Biogeochemistry; Faculty of Science and Engineering; Science
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article