Methane Emissions from Wetlands
- Visualizations by:
- Mark SubbaRao
- Scientific consulting by:
- Lesley Ott
- Produced by:
- Kathleen Gaeta
- View full credits
Methane is an important greenhouse gas that’s contributed to around one third of global warming. About a third of total methane emissions comes from wetlands. Wetland habitats are filled with things like waterlogged soils and permafrost, which is what makes them sizable carbon sinks. But as a warming climate causes wetland soils to warm or flood, carbon is released into the atmosphere as methane.
Methane is an important greenhouse gas that contributes substantially to global warming. On a molecule by molecule basis, methane is much more efficient at trapping heat than carbon dioxide, the main driver of warming. Though human activities, including agriculture, oil and natural gas production and use, and waste disposal, collectively contribute the majority of methane to the atmosphere, about a third of total methane emissions comes from wetlands. Wetland habitats are filled with things like waterlogged soils and permafrost, which makes them sizable carbon sinks. However, as the climate changes, these carbon-rich soils are vulnerable to flooding and to rising temperatures, which can release more carbon to the atmosphere in the form or methane. Understanding methane emissions from natural sources like wetlands is critically important to scientists and policymakers who are working to ensure that changes in natural systems don’t counteract progress in combatting climate change made by reducing emissions from human activities.
This animation shows estimates of wetland methane emissions produced by the Lund–Potsdam–Jena Dynamic Global Vegetation Model (LPJ-DGVM) Wald Schnee und Landscaft version (LPJ-wsl). LPJ-wsl is a prognostic model, meaning that it can be used to simulate future changes in wetland emissions and independently verified with remote sensing data products. The model includes a complex, topography dependent model of near surface hydrology, and a permafrost and dynamic snow model, allowing it to produce realistic distributions of inundated area. Highlighted areas show concentrated methane sources from tropical and high latitude ecosystems. The LPJ-wsl model is regularly used in conjunction with NASA’s GEOS model to simulate the impact of wetlands and other methane sources on atmospheric methane concentrations, compare against satellite and airborne data, and to improve understanding and prediction of wetland emissions.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio
Visualizer
- Mark SubbaRao (NASA/GSFC) [Lead]
Scientists
- Lesley Ott (NASA/GSFC) [Lead]
- Benjamin Poulter (NASA/GSFC)
Producer
- Kathleen Gaeta (AIMM) [Lead]
Technical support
- Ian Jones (ADNET)
- Laurence Schuler (ADNET)
Web developer
- Eytan Kaplan (GST)
Papers
This visualization is based on the following papers:- Emerging role of wetland methane emissions in driving 21st century climate change, Zhen Zhang, Niklaus E. Zimmermann, Andrea Stenke, and Benjamin Poulter, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1618765114
Related pages
Methane Emissions from Wetlands
Dec. 14, 2022, 7 a.m.
Read moreComplete transcript available.Methane is an important greenhouse gas that contributes substantially to global warming. On a molecule by molecule basis, methane is much more efficient at trapping heat than carbon dioxide, the main driver of warming. Though human activities, including agriculture, oil and natural gas production and use, and waste disposal, collectively contribute the majority of methane to the atmosphere, about a third of total methane emissions comes from wetlands. Wetland habitats are filled with things like waterlogged soils and permafrost, which makes them sizable carbon sinks. However, as the climate changes, these carbon-rich soils are vulnerable to flooding and to rising temperatures, which can release more carbon to the atmosphere in the form of methane. Understanding methane emissions from natural sources like wetlands is critically important to scientists and policymakers who are working to ensure that changes in natural systems don’t counteract progress in combatting climate change made by reducing emissions from human activities.This animation shows estimates of wetland methane emissions produced by the Lund–Potsdam–Jena Dynamic Global Vegetation Model (LPJ-DGVM) Wald Schnee und Landscaft version (LPJ-wsl). LPJ-wsl is a prognostic model, meaning that it can be used to simulate future changes in wetland emissions and independently verified with remote sensing data products. The model includes a complex, topography dependent model of near surface hydrology, and a permafrost and dynamic snow model, allowing it to produce realistic distributions of inundated areas. Highlighted areas show concentrated methane sources from tropical and high latitude ecosystems. The LPJ-wsl model is regularly used in conjunction with NASA’s GEOS model to simulate the impact of wetlands and other methane sources on atmospheric methane concentrations, compare against satellite and airborne data, and to improve understanding and prediction of wetland emissions. Music credit: “Emerging Wave” from Universal Production Music