Old carbon reservoirs were not important in the deglacial methane budget

Small burden from old sources Methane is a potent greenhouse gas with large natural sources, reservoirs, and sinks. Dyonisius et al. found that methane emissions from old, cold-region carbon reservoirs like permafrost and methane hydrates were minor during the last deglaciation (see the Perspective...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science
Main Authors: Dyonisius, M. N., Petrenko, V. V., Smith, A. M., Hua, Q., Yang, B., Schmitt, J., Beck, J., Seth, B., Bock, M., Hmiel, B., Vimont, I., Menking, J. A., Shackleton, S. A., Baggenstos, D., Bauska, T. K., Rhodes, R. H., Sperlich, P., Beaudette, R., Harth, C., Kalk, M., Brook, E. J., Fischer, H., Severinghaus, J. P., Weiss, R. F.
Other Authors: National Science Foundation, European Research Council
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2020
Subjects:
Antarctic
Antarc*
Ice
permafrost
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aax0504
https://syndication.highwire.org/content/doi/10.1126/science.aax0504
https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.aax0504
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Summary:Small burden from old sources Methane is a potent greenhouse gas with large natural sources, reservoirs, and sinks. Dyonisius et al. found that methane emissions from old, cold-region carbon reservoirs like permafrost and methane hydrates were minor during the last deglaciation (see the Perspective by Dean). They analyzed the carbon isotopic composition of atmospheric methane trapped in bubbles in Antarctic ice and found that methane emissions from those old carbon sources during the warming interval were small. They argue that this finding suggests that methane emissions in response to future warming likely will not be as large as some have suggested. Science , this issue p. 907 see also p. 846

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