Impacts of climate change on methane emissions from wetlands

Shindell, D. T.; Walter, Bianca; Faluvegi, G.

doi:10.1029/2004gl021009

Cited by 139 publications

(123 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…We force the atmosphere-only version of Goddard Institute for Space Studies MODELE (www-.giss.nasa.gov͞tools͞modelE) with SST and sea ice conditions extracted from the coupled model and assess the climate impacts on cosmogenic isotope deposition ( 10 Be) (24), dust (25), and wetland methane emissions (26). Two sets of boundary conditions were produced: one corresponding to the mean maximum decadal response (a 40% reduction in NADW production) and the other corresponding to the maximum (60%) decrease.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Methane emissions are calculated online by using local regression models for temperature and precipitation combined with an assessment of the viability of wetlands using soil moisture characteristics and local climate (26). The subsequent concentration calculations are for global mean abundance; any decrease in the hemispheric gradient would increase the change seen at Greenland (11).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Consistent simulations of multiple proxy responses to an abrupt climate change event

LeGrande

Schmidt

Shindell

et al. 2006

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

180

164

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Isotope, aerosol, and methane records document an abrupt cooling event across the Northern Hemisphere at 8.2 kiloyears before present (kyr), while separate geologic lines of evidence document the catastrophic drainage of the glacial Lakes Agassiz and Ojibway into the Hudson Bay at approximately the same time. This melt water pulse may have been the catalyst for a decrease in North Atlantic Deep Water formation and subsequent cooling around the Northern Hemisphere. However, lack of direct evidence for ocean cooling has lead to speculation that this abrupt event was purely local to Greenland and called into question this proposed mechanism. We simulate the response to this melt water pulse using a coupled general circulation model that explicitly tracks water isotopes and with atmosphere-only experiments that calculate changes in atmospheric aerosol deposition (specifically 10 Be and dust) and wetland methane emissions. The simulations produce a short period of significantly diminished North Atlantic Deep Water and are able to quantitatively match paleoclimate observations, including the lack of isotopic signal in the North Atlantic. This direct comparison with multiple proxy records provides compelling evidence that changes in ocean circulation played a major role in this abrupt climate change event.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consistent simulations of multiple proxy responses to an abrupt climate change event

LeGrande

Schmidt

Shindell

et al. 2006

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

180

164

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“…Oxidation in the oxic portion of the soil, water column, and rhizosphere has also been parameterized (Ridgwell et al, 1999;Segers and Leffelaar, 2001;Zhuang et al, 2006;Curry, 2007Curry, , 2009. Model simulations have also moved on from equilibrium-only simulations to transient simulations (Walter et al, 2001a,b;Shindell et al, 2004;Gedney et al, 2004;Zhuang et al, 2006). Regional-to global-scale models have now been applied for the recent past (Ringeval et al, 2010;Hodson et al, 2011;Spahni et al, 2011;Riley et al, 2011), more distant past climates (Kaplan, 2002;Valdes et al, 2005;Hopcroft et al, 2011;Singarayer et al, 2011;Beerling et al, 2011), and to project responses to future climate change (Shindell et al, 2004;Gedney et al, 2004;Bohn et al, 2007;Bohn and Lettenmaier, 2010;Ringeval, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Regional-to global-scale models have now been applied for the recent past (Ringeval et al, 2010;Hodson et al, 2011;Spahni et al, 2011;Riley et al, 2011), more distant past climates (Kaplan, 2002;Valdes et al, 2005;Hopcroft et al, 2011;Singarayer et al, 2011;Beerling et al, 2011), and to project responses to future climate change (Shindell et al, 2004;Gedney et al, 2004;Bohn et al, 2007;Bohn and Lettenmaier, 2010;Ringeval, 2011). Wetland and wetland CH 4 models are now becoming included in intermediate complexity (Shindell et al, 2004;Gedney et al, 2004;Avis et al, 2011) and comprehensive (Riley et al, 2011) global climate and earth system models. ≈ +3.9 % b ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The earliest attempt at wetland modelling for the purpose of estimating wetland CH 4 emissions was designed to estimate wetland emissions during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, ∼ 21 ka; Kaplan, 2002). The simple scheme of Kaplan (2002) used threshold values of slope and soil moisture content to define wetland areas, with the soil moisture calculated by an equilibrium vegetation model (BIOME4); an approach adopted by other models (Shindell et al, 2004;Weber et al, 2010;Avis et al, 2011). Later schemes used land cover datasets to outline peatland regions (Wania et al, 2009a(Wania et al, , 2010Spahni et al, 2011), and/or satellite-derived inundation datasets to prescribe wetlands either directly (Hodson et al, 2011;Ringeval et al, 2010), or indirectly Riley et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Present state of global wetland extent and wetland methane modelling: methodology of a model inter-comparison project (WETCHIMP)

Wania

Melton²,

Hodson³

et al. 2013

Geosci. Model Dev.

187

180

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Abstract. The Wetland and Wetland CH 4 Intercomparison of Models Project (WETCHIMP) was created to evaluate our present ability to simulate large-scale wetland characteristics and corresponding methane (CH 4 ) emissions. A multi-model comparison is essential to evaluate the key uncertainties in the mechanisms and parameters leading to methane emissions. Ten modelling groups joined WETCHIMP to run eight global and two regional models with a common experimental protocol using the same climate and atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) forcing datasets. We reported the main conclusions from the intercomparison effort in a companion paper (Melton et al., 2013). Here we provide technical details for the six experiments, which included an equilibrium, a transient, and an optimized run plus three sensitivity experiments (temperature, precipitation, and atmospheric CO 2 concentration). The diversity of approaches used by the models is summarized through a series of conceptual figures, and is used to evaluate the wide range of wetland extent and CH 4 fluxes predicted by the models in the equilibrium run. We discuss relationships among the various approaches and patterns in consistencies of these model predictions. Within this group of models, there are three broad classes of methods used to estimate wetland extent: prescribed based on wetland distribution maps, prognostic relationships between hydrological states based on satellite observations, and explicit hydrological mass balances. A larger variety of approaches was used to estimate the net CH 4 fluxes from wetland systems. Even though modelling of wetland extent and CH 4 emissions has progressed significantly over recent decades, large uncertainties still exist when estimating CH 4 emissions: there is little consensus on model structure or complexity due to knowledge gaps, different aims of the models, and the range of temporal and spatial resolutions of the models.

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Tropical wetlands: A missing link in the global carbon cycle?

Sjögersten

Black

Evers

et al. 2014

Global Biogeochemical Cycles

216

128

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Tropical wetlands are not included in Earth system models, despite being an important source of methane (CH4) and contributing a large fraction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from land use, land use change, and forestry in the tropics. This review identifies a remarkable lack of data on the carbon balance and gas fluxes from undisturbed tropical wetlands, which limits the ability of global change models to make accurate predictions about future climate. We show that the available data on in situ carbon gas fluxes in undisturbed forested tropical wetlands indicate marked spatial and temporal variability in CO2 and CH4 emissions, with exceptionally large fluxes in Southeast Asia and the Neotropics. By upscaling short-term measurements, we calculate that approximately 90 ± 77 Tg CH4 year−1 and 4540 ± 1480 Tg CO2 year−1 are released from tropical wetlands globally. CH4 fluxes are greater from mineral than organic soils, whereas CO2 fluxes do not differ between soil types. The high CO2 and CH4 emissions are mirrored by high rates of net primary productivity and litter decay. Net ecosystem productivity was estimated to be greater in peat-forming wetlands than on mineral soils, but the available data are insufficient to construct reliable carbon balances or estimate gas fluxes at regional scales. We conclude that there is an urgent need for systematic data on carbon dynamics in tropical wetlands to provide a robust understanding of how they differ from well-studied northern wetlands and allow incorporation of tropical wetlands into global climate change models.

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Impacts of climate change on methane emissions from wetlands

Cited by 139 publications

References 20 publications

Consistent simulations of multiple proxy responses to an abrupt climate change event

Consistent simulations of multiple proxy responses to an abrupt climate change event

Present state of global wetland extent and wetland methane modelling: methodology of a model inter-comparison project (WETCHIMP)

Tropical wetlands: A missing link in the global carbon cycle?

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