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Atmospheric constraints on global emissions of methane from plants
Author(s) -
Houweling S.,
Röckmann T.,
Aben I.,
Keppler F.,
Krol M.,
Meirink J. F.,
Dlugokencky E. J.,
Frankenberg C.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2006gl026162
Subject(s) - sciamachy , vegetation (pathology) , environmental science , atmospheric sciences , methane , atmospheric methane , atmosphere (unit) , climatology , meteorology , chemistry , troposphere , geology , physics , medicine , organic chemistry , pathology
We investigate whether a recently proposed large source of CH 4 from vegetation can be reconciled with atmospheric measurements. Atmospheric transport model simulations with and without vegetation emissions are compared with background CH 4 , δ 13 C‐CH 4 and satellite measurements. For present–day CH 4 we derive an upper limit to the newly discovered source of 125 Tg CH 4 yr −1 . Analysis of preindustrial CH 4 , however, points to 85 Tg CH 4 yr −1 as a more plausible limit. Model calculations with and without vegetation emissions show strikingly similar results at background surface monitoring sites, indicating that these measurements are rather insensitive to CH 4 from plants. Simulations with 125 Tg CH 4 yr −1 vegetation emissions can explain up to 50% of the previously reported unexpectedly high CH 4 column abundances over tropical forests observed by SCIAMACHY. Our results confirm the potential importance of vegetation emissions, and call for further research.