Open AccessTrain‐borne measurements of tropical methane enhancements from ephemeral wetlands in Australia
Author(s) -
Deutscher Nicholas M.,
Griffith David W. T.,
PatonWalsh Clare,
Borah Rittick
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: atmospheres
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/2009jd013151
Subject(s) - wetland , ephemeral key , transect , environmental science , monsoon , methane , tropics , tropical savanna climate , dry season , hydrology (agriculture) , climatology , oceanography , geography , geology , ecosystem , ecology , cartography , geotechnical engineering , biology
We report greenhouse gas concentrations measured on a train covering a north‐south transect through central Australia from north to south coast. During the monsoonal wet season we found significant enhancements in methane that correlate well with changing area of wetland inundation in Australian tropical savanna regions. We used a meteorological and air pollution model to quantify the ephemeral wetland fluxes necessary to cause the observed enhancements and estimate the constant Australian tropical wetland emissions. Annual Australian tropical ephemeral wetland fluxes are estimated at 0.4 ± 0.2 Tg CH 4 , with permanent wetlands contributing a similar amount, 0.5 ± 0.2 Tg CH 4 .