Detectability of Arctic methane sources at six sites performing continuous atmospheric measurements
Understanding the recent evolution of methane emissions in the Arctic is necessary to interpret the global methane cycle. Emissions are affected by significant uncertainties and are sensitive to climate change, leading to potential feedbacks. A polar version of the CHIMERE chemistry-transport model...
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Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för geologiska vetenskaper
2017
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Online Access: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-148594 https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-8371-2017 |
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ftstockholmuniv:oai:DiVA.org:su-148594 2023-05-15T14:31:45+02:00 Detectability of Arctic methane sources at six sites performing continuous atmospheric measurements Thonat, T. Saunois, M. Bousquet, P. Pison, I. Tan, Z. Zhuang, Q. Crill, Patrick M. Thornton, Brett F. Bastviken, D. Dlugokencky, E. J. Zimov, N. Laurila, T. Hatakka, J. Hermansen, O. Worthy, D. E. J. 2017 application/pdf http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-148594 https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-8371-2017 eng eng Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för geologiska vetenskaper Atmospheric Chemistry And Physics, 1680-7316, 2017, 17:13, s. 8371-8394 orcid:0000-0003-1110-3059 orcid:0000-0002-5640-6419 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-148594 doi:10.5194/acp-17-8371-2017 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Arctic methane model CHIMERE Earth and Related Environmental Sciences Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap Article in journal info:eu-repo/semantics/article text 2017 ftstockholmuniv https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-8371-2017 2023-02-23T21:43:27Z Understanding the recent evolution of methane emissions in the Arctic is necessary to interpret the global methane cycle. Emissions are affected by significant uncertainties and are sensitive to climate change, leading to potential feedbacks. A polar version of the CHIMERE chemistry-transport model is used to simulate the evolution of tropospheric methane in the Arctic during 2012, including all known regional anthropogenic and natural sources, in particular freshwater emissions which are often overlooked in methane modelling. CHIMERE simulations are compared to atmospheric continuous observations at six measurement sites in the Arctic region. In winter, the Arctic is dominated by anthropogenic emissions; emissions from continental seepages and oceans, including from the East Siberian Arctic Shelf, can contribute significantly in more limited areas. In summer, emissions from wetland and freshwater sources dominate across the whole region. The model is able to reproduce the seasonality and synoptic variations of methane measured at the different sites. We find that all methane sources significantly affect the measurements at all stations at least at the synoptic scale, except for biomass burning. In particular, freshwater systems play a decisive part in summer, representing on average between 11 and 26 % of the simulated Arctic methane signal at the sites. This indicates the relevance of continuous observations to gain a mechanistic understanding of Arctic methane sources. Sensitivity tests reveal that the choice of the land-surface model used to prescribe wetland emissions can be critical in correctly representing methane mixing ratios. The closest agreement with the observations is reached when using the two wetland models which have emissions peaking in August–September, while all others reach their maximum in June–July. Such phasing provides an interesting constraint on wetland models which still have large uncertainties at present. Also testing different freshwater emission inventories leads to large ... Article in Journal/Newspaper arctic methane Arctic Climate change Stockholm University: Publications (DiVA) Arctic Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 17 13 8371 8394 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Stockholm University: Publications (DiVA) |
op_collection_id |
ftstockholmuniv |
language |
English |
topic |
Arctic methane model CHIMERE Earth and Related Environmental Sciences Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap |
spellingShingle |
Arctic methane model CHIMERE Earth and Related Environmental Sciences Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap Thonat, T. Saunois, M. Bousquet, P. Pison, I. Tan, Z. Zhuang, Q. Crill, Patrick M. Thornton, Brett F. Bastviken, D. Dlugokencky, E. J. Zimov, N. Laurila, T. Hatakka, J. Hermansen, O. Worthy, D. E. J. Detectability of Arctic methane sources at six sites performing continuous atmospheric measurements |
topic_facet |
Arctic methane model CHIMERE Earth and Related Environmental Sciences Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap |
description |
Understanding the recent evolution of methane emissions in the Arctic is necessary to interpret the global methane cycle. Emissions are affected by significant uncertainties and are sensitive to climate change, leading to potential feedbacks. A polar version of the CHIMERE chemistry-transport model is used to simulate the evolution of tropospheric methane in the Arctic during 2012, including all known regional anthropogenic and natural sources, in particular freshwater emissions which are often overlooked in methane modelling. CHIMERE simulations are compared to atmospheric continuous observations at six measurement sites in the Arctic region. In winter, the Arctic is dominated by anthropogenic emissions; emissions from continental seepages and oceans, including from the East Siberian Arctic Shelf, can contribute significantly in more limited areas. In summer, emissions from wetland and freshwater sources dominate across the whole region. The model is able to reproduce the seasonality and synoptic variations of methane measured at the different sites. We find that all methane sources significantly affect the measurements at all stations at least at the synoptic scale, except for biomass burning. In particular, freshwater systems play a decisive part in summer, representing on average between 11 and 26 % of the simulated Arctic methane signal at the sites. This indicates the relevance of continuous observations to gain a mechanistic understanding of Arctic methane sources. Sensitivity tests reveal that the choice of the land-surface model used to prescribe wetland emissions can be critical in correctly representing methane mixing ratios. The closest agreement with the observations is reached when using the two wetland models which have emissions peaking in August–September, while all others reach their maximum in June–July. Such phasing provides an interesting constraint on wetland models which still have large uncertainties at present. Also testing different freshwater emission inventories leads to large ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Thonat, T. Saunois, M. Bousquet, P. Pison, I. Tan, Z. Zhuang, Q. Crill, Patrick M. Thornton, Brett F. Bastviken, D. Dlugokencky, E. J. Zimov, N. Laurila, T. Hatakka, J. Hermansen, O. Worthy, D. E. J. |
author_facet |
Thonat, T. Saunois, M. Bousquet, P. Pison, I. Tan, Z. Zhuang, Q. Crill, Patrick M. Thornton, Brett F. Bastviken, D. Dlugokencky, E. J. Zimov, N. Laurila, T. Hatakka, J. Hermansen, O. Worthy, D. E. J. |
author_sort |
Thonat, T. |
title |
Detectability of Arctic methane sources at six sites performing continuous atmospheric measurements |
title_short |
Detectability of Arctic methane sources at six sites performing continuous atmospheric measurements |
title_full |
Detectability of Arctic methane sources at six sites performing continuous atmospheric measurements |
title_fullStr |
Detectability of Arctic methane sources at six sites performing continuous atmospheric measurements |
title_full_unstemmed |
Detectability of Arctic methane sources at six sites performing continuous atmospheric measurements |
title_sort |
detectability of arctic methane sources at six sites performing continuous atmospheric measurements |
publisher |
Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för geologiska vetenskaper |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-148594 https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-8371-2017 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
arctic methane Arctic Climate change |
genre_facet |
arctic methane Arctic Climate change |
op_relation |
Atmospheric Chemistry And Physics, 1680-7316, 2017, 17:13, s. 8371-8394 orcid:0000-0003-1110-3059 orcid:0000-0002-5640-6419 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-148594 doi:10.5194/acp-17-8371-2017 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-8371-2017 |
container_title |
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics |
container_volume |
17 |
container_issue |
13 |
container_start_page |
8371 |
op_container_end_page |
8394 |
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1766305295566372864 |