scholarly journals Atmospheric methane control mechanisms during the early Holocene

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ji-Woong Yang ◽  
Jinho Ahn ◽  
Edward J. Brook ◽  
Yeongjun Ryu
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Anthropogenic Emissions ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Atmospheric Methane ◽  
Tropical Wetlands ◽  
Low Latitude ◽  
Siple Dome ◽  
Northern High Latitude

Abstract. Understanding the atmospheric methane (CH4) change is crucial to predict and mitigate the future climate change. In spite of recent studies using various approaches for the last ~ 1000 to 2000 years, control mechanisms of CH4 still remain unclear, partly because the late Holocene CH4 budget is comprised of natural and anthropogenic emissions. In contrast, the early Holocene was a period when human influence should have been substantially smaller, so that it allows us to elucidate the natural controls under interglacial conditions. Here we present new high resolution CH4 records of millennial scale CH4 variability from Siple Dome, Antarctica, covering from 11.6 to 7.7 thousands of years before 1950 AD (ka). We observe several local CH4 minima on a roughly 1000-year spacing. Each CH4 minimum corresponds to cool periods in Greenland. We hypothesize that the cooling in Greenland forced the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) to migrate southward, reducing rainfall in northern tropical wetlands although there is no obvious change was observed in low latitude hydrology corresponding to abrupt CH4 reduction at ~ 10.3 ka. A high resolution inter-polar difference (IPD) during the early Holocene increased from ~ 10.7 to 9.9 ka, and remained high until ~ 9.3 ka. With a simple three-box model results, our new IPD records suggest that the ratio of northern high latitude to tropical sources increased due to a boreal source expansion following the deglaciation.

scholarly journals Atmospheric methane control mechanisms during the early Holocene

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1227-1242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ji-Woong Yang ◽  
Jinho Ahn ◽  
Edward J. Brook ◽  
Yeongjun Ryu
Keyword(s):  
Late Holocene ◽  
Climate Changes ◽  
Gradual Increase ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Anthropogenic Emissions ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Atmospheric Methane ◽  
Tropical Wetlands ◽  
Human Influence ◽  
Siple Dome

Abstract. Understanding processes controlling the atmospheric methane (CH4) mixing ratio is crucial to predict and mitigate future climate changes in this gas. Despite recent detailed studies of the last  ∼  1000 to 2000 years, the mechanisms that control atmospheric CH4 still remain unclear, partly because the late Holocene CH4 budget may be comprised of both natural and anthropogenic emissions. In contrast, the early Holocene was a period when human influence was substantially smaller, allowing us to elucidate more clearly the natural controls under interglacial conditions more clearly. Here we present new high-resolution CH4 records from Siple Dome, Antarctica, covering from 11.6 to 7.7 thousands of years before 1950 AD (ka). We observe four local CH4 minima on a roughly 1000-year spacing, which correspond to cool periods in Greenland. We hypothesize that the cooling in Greenland forced the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) to migrate southward, reducing rainfall in northern tropical wetlands. The inter-polar difference (IPD) of CH4 shows a gradual increase from the onset of the Holocene to  ∼  9.5 ka, which implies growth of boreal source strength following the climate warming in the northern extratropics during that period.

scholarly journals Interpreting contemporary trends in atmospheric methane

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (8) ◽  
pp. 2805-2813 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander J. Turner ◽  
Christian Frankenberg ◽  
Eric A. Kort
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Anthropogenic Emissions ◽  
Atmospheric Methane ◽  
Tropical Wetlands ◽  
Net Zero ◽  
Methane Budget ◽  
Emissions Mitigation ◽  
Atmospheric Observations ◽  
Underlying Processes

Atmospheric methane plays a major role in controlling climate, yet contemporary methane trends (1982–2017) have defied explanation with numerous, often conflicting, hypotheses proposed in the literature. Specifically, atmospheric observations of methane from 1982 to 2017 have exhibited periods of both increasing concentrations (from 1982 to 2000 and from 2007 to 2017) and stabilization (from 2000 to 2007). Explanations for the increases and stabilization have invoked changes in tropical wetlands, livestock, fossil fuels, biomass burning, and the methane sink. Contradictions in these hypotheses arise because our current observational network cannot unambiguously link recent methane variations to specific sources. This raises some fundamental questions: (i) What do we know about sources, sinks, and underlying processes driving observed trends in atmospheric methane? (ii) How will global methane respond to changes in anthropogenic emissions? And (iii), What future observations could help resolve changes in the methane budget? To address these questions, we discuss potential drivers of atmospheric methane abundances over the last four decades in light of various observational constraints as well as process-based knowledge. While uncertainties in the methane budget exist, they should not detract from the potential of methane emissions mitigation strategies. We show that net-zero cost emission reductions can lead to a declining atmospheric burden, but can take three decades to stabilize. Moving forward, we make recommendations for observations to better constrain contemporary trends in atmospheric methane and to provide mitigation support.

Timing and structure of early-Holocene climate anomalies inferred from north Chinese stalagmite records

The Holocene ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 095968362110332
Author(s):  
Wuhui Duan ◽  
Zhibang Ma ◽  
Ming Tan ◽  
Hai Cheng ◽  
R. Lawrence Edwards ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Latitude ◽  
North China ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Holocene Climate ◽  
Low Latitude ◽  
Climate Anomalies ◽  
Step Structure ◽  
Freshwater Forcing ◽  
Northern High Latitude ◽  
Chinese Stalagmite

In this paper, a new decadal resolution stalagmite δ18O record covering 10.4–6.5 ka BP from Kulishu cave in Beijing, north China is presented in combination with the published stalagmite δ18O record covering 10.4–14.0 ka BP in the same cave. Five significant monsoon collapses were identified around 11.5, 11.0, 10.0, 9.4, and 8.2 ka BP as well as three smaller ones around 10.3, 9.0, and 8.6 ka BP. The weak monsoon episodes around 8.6 and 8.2 ka BP form the two-step structure of the 8.2 ka event. All monsoon collapses, coeval with the cooling in northern high-latitude records, are correlated with Lakes Agassiz-Ojibway outbursts. Thus, our data support the idea of freshwater forcing of abrupt climate anomalies during the early Holocene. Nevertheless, the decreased irradiance together with freshwater outburst may account for the 9.2/9.3 ka event, which is expressed more significantly in low-latitude records.

scholarly journals 2010–2015 North American methane emissions, sectoral contributions, and trends: a high-resolution inversion of GOSAT observations of atmospheric methane

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 4339-4356
Author(s):  
Joannes D. Maasakkers ◽  
Daniel J. Jacob ◽  
Melissa P. Sulprizio ◽  
Tia R. Scarpelli ◽  
Hannah Nesser ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Analytical Solution ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Oil Production ◽  
Methane Emissions ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Anthropogenic Emissions ◽  
Atmospheric Methane ◽  
Oil And Gas Production ◽  
Best Estimate

Abstract. We use 2010–2015 Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT) observations of atmospheric methane columns over North America in a high-resolution inversion of methane emissions, including contributions from different sectors and their trends over the period. The inversion involves an analytical solution to the Bayesian optimization problem for a Gaussian mixture model (GMM) of the emission field with up to 0.5∘×0.625∘ resolution in concentrated source regions. The analytical solution provides a closed-form characterization of the information content from the inversion and facilitates the construction of a large ensemble of solutions exploring the effect of different uncertainties and assumptions in the inverse analysis. Prior estimates for the inversion include a gridded version of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Inventory of US Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks (GHGI) and the WetCHARTs model ensemble for wetlands. Our best estimate for mean 2010–2015 US anthropogenic emissions is 30.6 (range: 29.4–31.3) Tg a−1, slightly higher than the gridded EPA inventory (28.7 (26.4–36.2) Tg a−1). The main discrepancy is for the oil and gas production sectors, where we find higher emissions than the GHGI by 35 % and 22 %, respectively. The most recent version of the EPA GHGI revises downward its estimate of emissions from oil production, and we find that these are lower than our estimate by a factor of 2. Our best estimate of US wetland emissions is 10.2 (5.6–11.1) Tg a−1, on the low end of the prior WetCHARTs inventory uncertainty range (14.2 (3.3–32.4) Tg a−1), which calls for better understanding of these emissions. We find an increasing trend in US anthropogenic emissions over 2010–2015 of 0.4 % a−1, lower than previous GOSAT-based estimates but opposite to the decrease reported by the EPA GHGI. Most of this increase appears driven by unconventional oil and gas production in the eastern US. We also find that oil and gas production emissions in Mexico are higher than in the nationally reported inventory, though there is evidence for a 2010–2015 decrease in emissions from offshore oil production.

scholarly journals Accelerating methane growth rate from 2010 to 2017: leading contributions from the tropics and East Asia

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (16) ◽  
pp. 12631-12647
Author(s):  
Yi Yin ◽  
Frederic Chevallier ◽  
Philippe Ciais ◽  
Philippe Bousquet ◽  
Marielle Saunois ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Satellite Observations ◽  
Anthropogenic Emissions ◽  
Atmospheric Methane ◽  
Tropical Wetlands ◽  
Sources And Sinks ◽  
Ch4 Emissions ◽  
Significant Acceleration ◽  
Oxidation Chain ◽  
The Tropics

Abstract. After stagnating in the early 2000s, the atmospheric methane growth rate has been positive since 2007 with a significant acceleration starting in 2014. While the causes for previous growth rate variations are still not well determined, this recent increase can be studied with dense surface and satellite observations. Here, we use an ensemble of six multi-species atmospheric inversions that have the capacity to assimilate observations of the main species in the methane oxidation chain – namely, methane, formaldehyde, and carbon monoxide – to simultaneously optimize both the methane sources and sinks at each model grid. We show that the surge of the atmospheric growth rate between 2010–2013 and 2014–2017 is most likely explained by an increase of global CH4 emissions by 17.5±1.5 Tg yr−1 (mean ± 1σ), while variations in the hydroxyl radicals (OH) remained small. The inferred emission increase is consistently supported by both surface and satellite observations, with leading contributions from the tropical wetlands (∼ 35 %) and anthropogenic emissions in China (∼ 20 %). Such a high consecutive atmospheric growth rate has not been observed since the 1980s and corresponds to unprecedented global total CH4 emissions.

scholarly journals 2010–2015 North American methane emissions, sectoral contributions, and trends: a high-resolution inversion of GOSAT satellite observations of atmospheric methane

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joannes D. Maasakkers ◽  
Daniel J. Jacob ◽  
Melissa P. Sulprizio ◽  
Tia R. Scarpelli ◽  
Hannah Nesser ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Analytical Solution ◽  
Oil Production ◽  
Methane Emissions ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Satellite Observations ◽  
Anthropogenic Emissions ◽  
Atmospheric Methane ◽  
Oil Gas ◽  
Gosat Satellite

Abstract. We use 2010–2015 GOSAT satellite observations of atmospheric methane columns over North America in a high- resolution inversion of methane emissions, including contributions from different sectors and long-term trends. The inversion involves analytical solution to the Bayesian optimization problem for a Gaussian mixture model (GMM) of the emission field with up to 0.5° × 0.625° resolution in concentrated source regions. Analytical solution provides a closed-form characterization of the information content from the inversion and facilitates the construction of a large ensemble of solutions exploring the effect of different uncertainties and assumptions. Prior estimates for the inversion include a gridded version of the EPA Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks (GHGI) and the WetCHARTS model ensemble for wetlands. Our best estimate for mean 2010–2015 US anthropogenic emissions is 30.6 (range: 29.4–31.3) Tg a-1, slightly higher than the gridded EPA inventory (28.7 (26.4–36.2) Tg a-1). The main discrepancy is for the oil and gas production sectors where we find higher emissions than the GHGI by 35 % and 22 % respectively. The most recent version of the EPA GHGI revises downward its estimate of emissions from oil production and we find that these are a factor 2 lower than our estimate. Our best estimate of US wetland emissions is 10.2 (5.6–11.1) Tg a-1, on the low end of the prior WetCHARTS inventory uncertainty range (14.2 (3.3–32.4) Tg a-1) and calling for better understanding of these emissions. We find an increasing trend in US anthropogenic emissions over 2010–2015 of 0.4 % a-1, lower than previous GOSAT-based estimates but opposite to the decrease reported by the EPA GHGI. Most of this increase appears driven by unconventional oil/gas production in the eastern US. We also find that oil/gas production emissions in Mexico are higher than in the nationally reported inventory, though there is evidence for a 2010–2015 decrease in emissions from offshore oil production.

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