Arctic lakes are continuous methane sources to the atmosphere under warming conditions

Methane is the second most powerful carbon-based greenhouse gas in the atmosphere and its production in the natural environment through methanogenesis is positively correlated with temperature. Recent field studies showed that methane emissions from Arctic thermokarst lakes are significant and could...

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Váldodahkkit: Zeli Tan, Qianlai Zhuang
Materiálatiipa: Artihkal
Giella:English
Almmustuhtton: IOP Publishing 2015-01-01
Ráidu:Environmental Research Letters
Fáttát:
Liŋkkat:https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/10/5/054016
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author Zeli Tan
Qianlai Zhuang
author_facet Zeli Tan
Qianlai Zhuang
author_sort Zeli Tan
collection DOAJ
description Methane is the second most powerful carbon-based greenhouse gas in the atmosphere and its production in the natural environment through methanogenesis is positively correlated with temperature. Recent field studies showed that methane emissions from Arctic thermokarst lakes are significant and could increase by two- to four-fold due to global warming. But the estimates of this source are still poorly constrained. By using a process-based climate-sensitive lake biogeochemical model, we estimated that the total amount of methane emissions from Arctic lakes is 11.86 Tg yr ^−1 , which is in the range of recent estimates of 7.1–17.3 Tg yr ^−1 and is on the same order of methane emissions from northern high-latitude wetlands. The methane emission rate varies spatially over high latitudes from 110.8 mg CH _4 m ^−2 day ^−1 in Alaska to 12.7 mg CH _4 m ^−2 day ^−1 in northern Europe. Under Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 2.6 and 8.5 future climate scenarios, methane emissions from Arctic lakes will increase by 10.3 and 16.2 Tg CH _4 yr ^−1 , respectively, by the end of the 21st century.
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spelling doaj.art-6dbb55ad8cbe4ae9844b51f4b5cc2ac42023-08-09T14:11:24ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262015-01-0110505401610.1088/1748-9326/10/5/054016Arctic lakes are continuous methane sources to the atmosphere under warming conditionsZeli Tan0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5958-2584Qianlai Zhuang1Purdue Climate Change Research Center, Purdue University , West Lafayette, IN, USA; Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Purdue University , West Lafayette, IN, USAPurdue Climate Change Research Center, Purdue University , West Lafayette, IN, USA; Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Purdue University , West Lafayette, IN, USA; Department of Agronomy, Purdue University , West Lafayette, IN, USAMethane is the second most powerful carbon-based greenhouse gas in the atmosphere and its production in the natural environment through methanogenesis is positively correlated with temperature. Recent field studies showed that methane emissions from Arctic thermokarst lakes are significant and could increase by two- to four-fold due to global warming. But the estimates of this source are still poorly constrained. By using a process-based climate-sensitive lake biogeochemical model, we estimated that the total amount of methane emissions from Arctic lakes is 11.86 Tg yr ^−1 , which is in the range of recent estimates of 7.1–17.3 Tg yr ^−1 and is on the same order of methane emissions from northern high-latitude wetlands. The methane emission rate varies spatially over high latitudes from 110.8 mg CH _4 m ^−2 day ^−1 in Alaska to 12.7 mg CH _4 m ^−2 day ^−1 in northern Europe. Under Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 2.6 and 8.5 future climate scenarios, methane emissions from Arctic lakes will increase by 10.3 and 16.2 Tg CH _4 yr ^−1 , respectively, by the end of the 21st century.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/10/5/054016methane emissionsarctic lakesclimate change
spellingShingle Zeli Tan
Qianlai Zhuang
Arctic lakes are continuous methane sources to the atmosphere under warming conditions
Environmental Research Letters
methane emissions
arctic lakes
climate change
title Arctic lakes are continuous methane sources to the atmosphere under warming conditions
title_full Arctic lakes are continuous methane sources to the atmosphere under warming conditions
title_fullStr Arctic lakes are continuous methane sources to the atmosphere under warming conditions
title_full_unstemmed Arctic lakes are continuous methane sources to the atmosphere under warming conditions
title_short Arctic lakes are continuous methane sources to the atmosphere under warming conditions
title_sort arctic lakes are continuous methane sources to the atmosphere under warming conditions
topic methane emissions
arctic lakes
climate change
url https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/10/5/054016
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AT qianlaizhuang arcticlakesarecontinuousmethanesourcestotheatmosphereunderwarmingconditions