| Summary: | Methane flux measurements were made during the summer of 1987 at 10 km intervals along a north-south transect from Prudhoe Bay (70°13′N) to the Arctic Circle (66°30′N) in Alaska. A regional comparison showed that the mean CH4 flux from arctic tundra (52 mg m-2 d-1) was significantly greater than the mean from high latitude taiga (11 mg m-2 d-1). Mean CH4 fluxes (mg m-2 d-1) for each category were: wet tundra, 90; low brush-muskeg bog, 45; moist tundra, 31; freshwater ponds, 21; spruce forest, 4.6; and alpine tundra, 0.6. Differences among means were statistically significant. Annual CH4 emission from global tundra and taiga environments of 38 Tg and 15 Tg. -from Authors
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