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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| 格式: | Article |
| 語言: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2015-01-01
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| 叢編: | Environmental Research Letters |
| 主題: | |
| 在線閱讀: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/10/5/054016 |
| _version_ | 1827871458651537408 |
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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. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:09:30Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6dbb55ad8cbe4ae9844b51f4b5cc2ac4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:09:30Z |
| publishDate | 2015-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| 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 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT zelitan arcticlakesarecontinuousmethanesourcestotheatmosphereunderwarmingconditions AT qianlaizhuang arcticlakesarecontinuousmethanesourcestotheatmosphereunderwarmingconditions |