SWAMPI
National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis Towards an adequate quantification of CH4 emissions from land ecosystems: Integrating field and in-situ observations, satellite data, and modeling
Duration:01/2006 - 12/2008
Award Amount:$103,350
Participants
Purdue University
Qianlai Zhuang, qzhuang at purdue.edu
Marine Biological Laboratory
Jerry Melillo, jmelillo at mbl.edu
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ron Prinn, rprinn at mit.edu
University of Alaska Fairbanks
David McGuire, ffadm at uaf.edu
Project Objectives
- Working Group, 13-MAR-06 to 14-MAR-06, Participant List
- Working Group, 15-MAR-07 to 16-MAR-07, Participant List
- Working Group, 13-MAR-08 to 14-MAR-08, Participant List
- Working Group, 19th-20th March 2009, Participant List
Abstract:
Emissions of CH4 from natural and managed land ecosystems account for a significant source of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. In recent decades, extensive field observations of CH4 emissions and atmospheric CH4 concentrations have been made during a time in which process-based and inversion modeling approaches have matured as powerful tools in estimating regional and global CH4 emissions. However, there are still substantial uncertainties in estimating CH4 exchange with the atmosphere. Much of this uncertainty arises from uncertainties in the extent of wetland distributions and incomplete understanding of the controls and mechanisms of methanogenesis, methanotrophy, and CH4 transport pathways to the atmosphere. Furthermore, there is variability in which factors control CH4 production and consumption in different natural and managed ecosystems. For example, in northern high latitudes, permafrost dynamics significantly influences emissions, while the seasonality of wetland extent is critical in determining emissions from tropical regions. For managed ecosystems (e.g., rice paddies), irrigation and fertilization significantly impact both methanogenesis and methanotrophy. Here we propose a Working Group to make progress in synthesis of CH4 dynamics through three activities:
- to identify key issues in quantifying CH4 emissions from land ecosystems through conducting comparisons of model and field observations for different geographical locations and ecosystems;
- to parameterize and extrapolate process-based models at regional and global scales and explore the uncertainty of CH4 emissions; and
- to couple process-based estimates with inversion modeling approaches to constrain the uncertainty with air-borne, satellite, and in-situ observed datasets and to identify the factors, mechanisms, and controls to the uncertainty of emissions at large-scales.
Results:
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Summary of the First Workshop of Methane Working Group, Mar. 13-14, 2006. pdf
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Summary of the Second Workshop of Methane Working Group, Mar. 15-16, 2007. pdf
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Summary of the Third Workshop of Methane Working Group, Mar. 13-14, 2008. pdf
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Summary of the Fourth Workshop of Methane Working Group, Mar. 19-20, 2009. doc
More on the project results
America Geophysical Union Annual Meeting Sessions
2009: Global methane cycle and its impacts on climate system and atmospheric chemistry
Convener:
Chris Butenhoff
Portland State University
USA
cbuten@pdx.edu
Qianlai Zhuang
Purdue University
USA
qzhuang@purdue.edu
Current atmospheric methane contributes ~20% of the anthropogenic forcing from long-lived greenhouse gases and plays an important role in atmospheric chemical dynamics. Methane's future impacts are highly uncertain, in part due to uncertainty in its sources (e.g., emissions from permafrost thawing), but more importantly due to incomplete understanding of the response of methane cycling to climate change. Here we solicit papers that
- improve our understanding of the methane cycle,
- study feedbacks between atmospheric methane and the global climate system as well as atmospheric chemistry and
- report in situ measurements of methane fluxes and concentrations, satellite retrievals of atmospheric concentrations, or biogeochemistry and atmospheric modeling results.
We especially encourage submissions that reduce source uncertainties, assess climate feedbacks, and estimate regional-scale emissions. This session grew out of a series of meetings sponsored by the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis.
2008: Methane: Toward Accurate Estimates of Fluxes Over Regional Scales
Convener:
Chris Butenhoff
Portland State University
USA
cbuten@pdx.edu
Ed Dlugokencky
NOAA ESRL
USA
ed.dlugokencky@noaa.gov
Qianlai Zhuang
Purdue University
USA
qzhuang@purdue.edu
Xiaozhen Xiong
NOAA NESDIS
USA
Xiaozhen.Xiong@noaa.gov
Methane has a global warming potential of 72 over a 20 year time horizon; it, therefore, is a promising greenhouse gas to target for short-term relief in the growth of radiative forcing. Our understanding of the global methane budget is probably sufficient to develop reasonable emission mitigation strategies, but our ability to estimate fluxes over regional scales is not sufficient to verify emission reductions reported under climate treaties or emissions trading schemes. Better estimates of fluxes will require a better understanding of the processes that emit methane, and a model system that integrates a variety of data streams, including atmospheric observations and process model outputs, to estimate fluxes at high spatial and temporal resolution.
This session will build on previous sessions organized by the NCEAS-sponsored (National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis) methane working group. We invite contributions on methane biogeochemical cycling covering all spatial scales that deal with in situ observations of CH4 abundance and isotopic composition, remotely-sensed observations of CH4 abundance and land cover, field studies that relate fluxes to climate and other ecological parameters, process models, emissions inventories, and inversion models. The major goals of this session are to promote a synthesis of approaches to estimating regional CH4 flux estimates and to assess the current potential of assimilation methods for reducing uncertainties in the global methane budget.
2007: Methane: Recent Finding and Surprises at the Local and Regi0onal Scale and Approaches to Reducing Uncertainty in the Global Budget
Methane is a critical contributing component to the atmosphere's radiation balance and oxidation chemistry. Despite its significance many surprises remain to challenge our understanding. Recent observations have raised questions about methane's global source distribution (satellite observations of the size and timing of tropical sources), magnitude and mechanisms of evasion (lakes and reservoirs) and even the potential of novel sources (upland plants) to affect the global budget. This session will gather experts taking a broad range of approaches to: 1) communicate current information on the mechanisms of methane emission from reservoirs, lakes and vegetation; 2) communicate the current state of the assessment of the accuracy and the uncertainty of in situ and satellite observations of methane abundance and land cover, field experiments of methane emissions, and modeling at various spatial scales; and 3) promote synthesis and cooperative mechanistic approaches in reducing uncertainties and expanding our quantitative understanding of methane emissions from the earth's surface.
Convener:
John Melack
University of California, Santa Barbara
USA
melack@lifesci.ucsb.edu
Patrick Crill
Stockholm University
Sweden
patrick.crill@geo.su.se
2006: Methane: Toward a Multiscale approach to Reducing Unvertainties in its Emissions
Convener:
Qianlai Zhuang
Purdue University
USA
qzhuang@purdue.edu
Ed Dlugokencky
NOAA ESRL
USA
ed.dlugokencky@noaa.gov
Merritt R. Turetsky,
Michigan State University
USA
mrt@msu.edu
Patrick Crill
Stockholm University
Sweden
patrick.crill@geo.su.se
Methane is a component in the global carbon cycle. It plays important roles in the global climate system and in determining background air quality. Despite its significance, large uncertainties still exist in methane's global budget, particularly for sources that vary over small spatial and temporal scales, such as wetlands. There are ongoing bottom-up approaches to reduce these uncertainties at the process level that meld measurements of fluxes and ecosystem parameters with process-based models and there are top-down approaches using space-based and in situ measurements of the spatial distribution of methane combined with atmospheric transport models. This session will gather experts taking both approaches to: 1) communicate current information on the mechanisms of methane emission from wetlands, rice paddies and other sectors (such as vegetation, landfills, industrial emissions, and oceanic emissions); 2) communicate the current state of in situ and satellite observations of methane abundance and land cover, field experiments of methane emissions, and modeling at various spatial scales; and 3) promote synthesis and coordination between bottom-up and top-down approaches in reducing uncertainties and expanding our quantitative understanding of methane emissions from the earth's surface.
Special Section : Synthesis of Recent Terrestrail Methane Emission Studies
Zhuang, Q., and W. S. Reeburgh (2008), Introduction to special section on Synthesis of Recent Terrestrial Methane Emission Studies, J. Geophys. Res., 113, G00A02, doi:10.1029/2008JG000749
Gauci, V., N. B. Dise, G. Howell, and M. E. Jenkins (2008), Suppression of rice methane emission by sulfate deposition in simulated acid rain, J. Geophys. Res., 113, G00A07, doi:10.1029/2007JG000501
Gauci, V., S. Blake, D. S. Stevenson, and E. J. Highwood (2008), Halving of the northern wetland CH4 source by a large Icelandic volcanic eruption, J. Geophys. Res., 113, G00A11, doi:10.1029/2007JG000499
Khalil, M. A. K., and C. L. Butenhoff (2008), Spatial variability of methane emissions from rice fields and implications for experimental design, J. Geophys. Res., 113, G00A09, doi:10.1029/2007JG000517
Khalil, M. A. K., M. J. Shearer, R. A. Rasmussen, C. Duan, and L. Ren (2008), Production, oxidation, and emissions of methane from rice fields in China, J. Geophys. Res., 113, G00A04, doi:10.1029/2007JG000461
Khalil, M. A. K., M. J. Shearer, R. A. Rasmussen, L. Xu, and J. Liu (2008), Methane and nitrous oxide emissions from subtropical rice agriculture in China, J. Geophys. Res., 113, G00A05, doi:10.1029/2007JG000462
Sachs, T., C. Wille, J. Boike, and L. Kutzbach (2008), Environmental controls on ecosystem-scale CH4 emission from polygonal tundra in the Lena River Delta, Siberia, J. Geophys. Res., 113, G00A03, doi:10.1029/2007JG000505
Turetsky, M. R., C. C. Treat, M. P. Waldrop, J. M. Waddington, J. W. Harden, and A. D. McGuire (2008), Short-term response of methane fluxes and methanogen activity to water table and soil warming manipulations in an Alaskan peatland, J. Geophys. Res., 113, G00A10, doi:10.1029/2007JG000496
Walter, K. M., J. P. Chanton, F. S. Chapin, E. A. G. Schuur, and S. A. Zimov (2008), Methane production and bubble emissions from arctic lakes: Isotopic implications for source pathways and ages, J. Geophys. Res., 113, G00A08, doi:10.1029/2007JG000569
White, J. R., R. D. Shannon, J. F. Weltzin, J. Pastor, and S. D. Bridgham (2008), Effects of soil warming and drying on methane cycling in a northern peatland mesocosm study, J. Geophys. Res., 113, G00A06, doi:10.1029/2007JG000609
Xiong, X., C. Barnet, E. Maddy, C. Sweeney, X. Liu, L. Zhou, and M. Goldberg (2008), Characterization and validation of methane products from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), J. Geophys. Res., 113, G00A01, doi:10.1029/2007JG000500
Other Publications
Zhuang, Q., J. M. Melack, S. Zimov, K. M. Walter, C. L. Butenhoff, and M. A. K. Khalil, Global methane emissions from wetlands, rice paddies, and lakes, Eos, 90(5), 37-38, 2009.
Melillo, J.M., S. Hassol, D. Archer, T. Callaghan, F.S. Chapin III, T. Christensen, A.D. McGuire, K. Walter, and Q. Zhuang Methane from the Arctic: Global warming wildcard. Chapter in United Nations Environmental Programme Yearbook, 2008
Methane database archived at NCEAS: