CP Climate of the Past CP Clim. Past 1814-9332 Copernicus Publications Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/cp-7-1075-2011 Uncertainties in modelling CH<sub>4</sub> emissions from northern wetlands in glacial climates: the role of vegetation parameters Berrittella C. 1 van Huissteden J. 1 Vrije Universiteit, Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Department of Hydrology and Geo-Environmental Sciences, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands 11 10 2011 7 4 1075 1087 Copyright: © 2011 C. Berrittella 2011 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This article is available from https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/7/1075/2011/cp-7-1075-2011.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/7/1075/2011/cp-7-1075-2011.pdf

Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3) interstadials are marked by a sharp increase in the atmospheric methane (CH<sub>4</sub>) concentration, as recorded in ice cores. Wetlands are assumed to be the major source of this CH<sub>4</sub>, although several other hypotheses have been advanced. Modelling of CH<sub>4</sub> emissions is crucial to quantify CH<sub>4</sub> sources for past climates. <br><br> Vegetation effects are generally highly generalized in modelling past and present-day CH<sub>4</sub> fluxes, but should not be neglected. Plants strongly affect the soil-atmosphere exchange of CH<sub>4</sub> and the net primary production of the vegetation supplies organic matter as substrate for methanogens. For modelling past CH<sub>4</sub> fluxes from northern wetlands, assumptions on vegetation are highly relevant since paleobotanical data indicate large differences in Last Glacial (LG) wetland vegetation composition as compared to modern wetland vegetation. Besides more cold-adapted vegetation, <i>Sphagnum</i> mosses appear to be much less dominant during large parts of the LG than at present, which particularly affects CH<sub>4</sub> oxidation and transport. To evaluate the effect of vegetation parameters, we used the PEATLAND-VU wetland CO<sub>2</sub>/CH<sub>4</sub> model to simulate emissions from wetlands in continental Europe during LG and modern climates. <br><br> We tested the effect of parameters influencing oxidation during plant transport (<i>f</i><sub>ox</sub>), vegetation net primary production (NPP, parameter symbol <i>P</i><sub>max</sub>), plant transport rate (<i>V</i><sub>transp</sub>), maximum rooting depth (<i>Z</i><sub>root</sub>) and root exudation rate (<i>f</i><sub>ex</sub>). Our model results show that modelled CH<sub>4</sub> fluxes are sensitive to <i>f</i><sub>ox</sub> and <i>Z</i><sub>root</sub> in particular. The effects of <i>P</i><sub>max</sub>, <i>V</i><sub>transp</sub> and <i>f</i><sub>ex</sub> are of lesser relevance. Interactions with water table modelling are significant for <i>V</i><sub>transp</sub>. <br><br> We conducted experiments with different wetland vegetation types for Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3) stadial and interstadial climates and the present-day climate, by coupling PEATLAND-VU to high resolution climate model simulations for Europe. Experiments assuming dominance of one vegetation type (<i>Sphagnum</i> vs. <i>Carex</i> vs. <i>Shrubs</i>) show that <i>Carex</i>-dominated vegetation can increase CH<sub>4</sub> emissions by 50% to 78% over <i>Sphagnum</i>-dominated vegetation depending on the modelled climate, while for shrubs this increase ranges from 42% to 72%. Consequently, during the LG northern wetlands may have had CH<sub>4</sub> emissions similar to their present-day counterparts, despite a colder climate. Changes in dominant wetland vegetation, therefore, may drive changes in wetland CH<sub>4</sub> fluxes, in the past as well as in the future.

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