Boreal-Arctic wetland methane emissions modulated by warming and vegetation activity.
Kunxiaojia YuanFa LiGavin McNicolMin ChenAlison M HoytSara KnoxWilliam J RileyRobert B JacksonQing ZhuPublished in: Nature climate change (2024)
Wetland methane (CH 4 ) emissions over the Boreal-Arctic region are vulnerable to climate change and linked to climate feedbacks, yet understanding of their long-term dynamics remains uncertain. Here, we upscaled and analysed two decades (2002-2021) of Boreal-Arctic wetland CH 4 emissions, representing an unprecedented compilation of eddy covariance and chamber observations. We found a robust increasing trend of CH 4 emissions (+8.9%) with strong inter-annual variability. The majority of emission increases occurred in early summer (June and July) and were mainly driven by warming (52.3%) and ecosystem productivity (40.7%). Moreover, a 2 °C temperature anomaly in 2016 led to the highest recorded annual CH 4 emissions (22.3 Tg CH 4 yr -1 ) over this region, driven primarily by high emissions over Western Siberian lowlands. However, current-generation models from the Global Carbon Project failed to capture the emission magnitude and trend, and may bias the estimates in future wetland CH 4 emission driven by amplified Boreal-Arctic warming and greening.