Global responses of wetland methane emissions to extreme temperature and precipitation

Min Xu; Jiang Zhang; Zhen Zhang; Meng Wang; Huai Chen; Changhui Peng; Dongxue Yu; Hao Zhan; Qiuan Zhu

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2024.118907

Global responses of wetland methane emissions to extreme temperature and precipitation

Environ Res. 2024 Apr 18;252(Pt 3):118907. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2024.118907. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Min Xu¹, Jiang Zhang², Zhen Zhang³, Meng Wang⁴, Huai Chen⁵, Changhui Peng⁶, Dongxue Yu¹, Hao Zhan¹, Qiuan Zhu⁷

Affiliations

¹ College of Geography and Remote Sensing, Hohai University, Nanjing, 210098, China.
² Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
³ National Tibetan Plateau Data Center (TPDC), State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Environment and Resource (TPESER), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
⁴ School of Geographical Sciences, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, 130024, China.
⁵ Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, 610041, China.
⁶ Institute of Environment Sciences, Department of Biology Sciences, University of Quebec at Montreal, Montreal, H3C 3P8, Canada.
⁷ College of Geography and Remote Sensing, Hohai University, Nanjing, 210098, China. Electronic address: zhuq@hhu.edu.cn.

PMID: 38642638
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2024.118907

Abstract

As global warming continues, events of extreme heat or heavy precipitation will become more frequent, while events of extreme cold will become less so. How wetlands around the globe will react to these extreme events is unclear yet critical, because they are among the greatest natural sources of methane(CH₄). Here we use seven indices of extreme climate and the rate of methane emission from global wetlands(WME) during 2000-2019 simulated by 12 published models as input data. Our analyses suggest that extreme cold (particularly extreme low temperatures) inhibits WME, whereas extreme heat (particularly extreme high temperatures) accelerates WME. Our results also suggest that daily precipitation >10 mm accelerates WME, while much higher daily precipitation levels can slow WME. The correlation of extreme high temperature and precipitation with rate of WME became stronger during the study period, while the correlation between extreme low temperature and WME rate became weaker.

Keywords: Extreme climate; Global response; Wetland methane.