A recent report published in the journal Nature Climate Change, with Kunxiaojia Yuan of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (USA) as lead author, has highlighted a worrying increase in methane emissions from Arctic boreal wetlands.
This study, which examines data collected between 2002 and 2021, reveals a seasonal pattern in methane emissions, with peaks observed in early summer due to seasonal warming and increased ecosystem productivity.
Worrying increase in methane emissions
In addition to this seasonal variability, the study identifies a long-term increasing trend in these emissions, directly correlated to the global rise in temperatures. One of the most alarming findings of the study is the inability of current climate models to accurately capture both seasonal variations and long-term trends in methane emissions, underestimating the true rate of increase in these emissions.
Likewise, the research underscores the complexity of climate feedback mechanisms, which can act both as mitigating factors, for example, through CO₂ uptake by plants, and as amplifiers of climate change, such as increased methane emissions. It is important to highlight that methane is the second most prevalent greenhouse gas resulting from human activities, contributing 20-30 % to the global total of greenhouse gases and having a greenhouse impact up to 34 times higher than CO₂.
What happens in Arctic boreal wetlands?
Arctic boreal wetlands, key areas in this process, are experiencing an increase in methane production directly linked to temperature. Global warming induces the thawing of permafrost, reactivating the decomposition of previously frozen organic material and, as a result, the release of methane.
Importantly, the increasing release of methane from boreal wetlands underscores the urgency of addressing anthropogenic emissions as well as natural sources of greenhouse gases. This phenomenon reinforces the need to integrate Arctic wetland dynamics into climate models and to design global strategies that consider both mitigation of emissions and adaptation to unavoidable changes.
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Source: tiempo.com
Photo: shutterstock
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