Methane Emission From Global Lakes: New Spatiotemporal Data and Observation-Driven Modeling of Methane Dynamics Indicates Lower Emissions

Lakes have been highlighted as one of the largest natural sources of the greenhouse gas methane (CH4) to the atmosphere. However, global estimates of lake CH4 fluxes over the last 20 years exhibit widely different results ranging from 6 to 185 Tg CH4 yr(-1), which is to a large extent driven by differences in lake areas and thaw season lengths used. This has generated uncertainty regarding both lake fluxes and the global CH4 budget. This study constrains global lake water CH4 emissions by using new information on lake area and distribution and CH4 fluxes distinguished by major emission pathways; ecoclimatic lake type; satellite-derived ice-free emission period length; and diel- and temperature-related seasonal flux corrections. We produced gridded data sets at 0.25 degrees latitude x 0.25 degrees longitude spatial resolution, representing daily emission estimates over a full annual climatological cycle, appropriate for use in global CH4 budget estimates, climate and Earth System Models, bottom-up biogeochemical models, and top-down inverse model simulations. Global lake CH4 fluxes are 41.6 +/- 18.3 Tg CH4 yr(-1) with approximately 50% of the flux contributed by tropical/subtropical lakes. Strong temperature-dependent flux seasonality and satellite-derived freeze/thaw dynamics limit emissions at high latitudes. The primary emission pathway for global annual lake fluxes is ebullition (23.4 Tg) followed by diffusion (14.1 Tg), ice-out and spring water-column turnover (3.1 Tg), and fall water-column turnover (1.0 Tg). These results represent a major contribution to reconciling differences between bottom-up and top-town estimates of inland aquatic system emissions in the global CH4 budget.

Automated summary

This study provides important constraints on global lake CH4 emissions, using new information on lake area and distribution, as well as distinguishing CH4 fluxes based on major emission pathways and ecoclimatic lake type. The results help reconcile differences between bottom-up and top-down estimates of inland aquatic system emissions in the global CH4 budget.