Methane feedbacks to the global climate system in a warmer world
Methane (CH 4 ) is produced in many natural systems that are vulnerable to change under a warming climate, yet current CH 4 budgets, as well as future shifts in CH 4 emissions, have high uncertainties. Climate change has the potential to increase CH 4 emissions from critical systems such as wetlands...
Published in: | Reviews of Geophysics |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2018
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://research.vu.nl/en/publications/e1035a6d-7d3d-4ed9-a49a-06ed07d8cf21 https://doi.org/10.1002/2017RG000559 https://hdl.handle.net/1871.1/e1035a6d-7d3d-4ed9-a49a-06ed07d8cf21 http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85045504576&partnerID=8YFLogxK http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85045504576&partnerID=8YFLogxK |
Summary: | Methane (CH 4 ) is produced in many natural systems that are vulnerable to change under a warming climate, yet current CH 4 budgets, as well as future shifts in CH 4 emissions, have high uncertainties. Climate change has the potential to increase CH 4 emissions from critical systems such as wetlands, marine and freshwater systems, permafrost, and methane hydrates, through shifts in temperature, hydrology, vegetation, landscape disturbance, and sea level rise. Increased CH 4 emissions from these systems would in turn induce further climate change, resulting in a positive climate feedback. Here we synthesize biological, geochemical, and physically focused CH 4 climate feedback literature, bringing together the key findings of these disciplines. We discuss environment-specific feedback processes, including the microbial, physical, and geochemical interlinkages and the timescales on which they operate, and present the current state of knowledge of CH 4 climate feedbacks in the immediate and distant future. The important linkages between microbial activity and climate warming are discussed with the aim to better constrain the sensitivity of the CH 4 cycle to future climate predictions. We determine that wetlands will form the majority of the CH 4 climate feedback up to 2100. Beyond this timescale, CH 4 emissions from marine and freshwater systems and permafrost environments could become more important. Significant CH 4 emissions to the atmosphere from the dissociation of methane hydrates are not expected in the near future. Our key findings highlight the importance of quantifying whether CH 4 consumption can counterbalance CH 4 production under future climate scenarios. |
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