Atmospheric methane since the last glacial  maximum was driven by wetland sources

Kleinen, Thomas; Gromov, Sergey; Steil, Benedikt; Brovkin, Victor

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1081-2023

Articles | Volume 19, issue 5

https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1081-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1081-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 19, issue 5

Research article

|

01 Jun 2023

Research article |

| 01 Jun 2023

Atmospheric methane since the last glacial maximum was driven by wetland sources

Thomas Kleinen, Sergey Gromov, Benedikt Steil, and Victor Brovkin

Data sets

Atmospheric methane since the LGM was driven by wetland sources T. Kleinen, S. Gromov, B. Steil, and V. Brovkin https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7670389

PalMod2 MPI-M MPI-ESM1-2-CR-CH4 transient-deglaciation-prescribed-glac1d-methane T. Kleinen, S. Gromov, B. Steil, and V. Brovkin https://doi.org/10.26050/WDCC/PMMXMCHTD

Short summary

We modelled atmospheric methane continuously from the last glacial maximum to the present using a state-of-the-art Earth system model. Our model results compare well with reconstructions from ice cores and improve our understanding of a very intriguing period of Earth system history, the deglaciation, when atmospheric methane changed quickly and strongly. Deglacial methane changes are driven by emissions from tropical wetlands, with wetlands in high northern latitudes being secondary.