An increase in methane emissions from tropical Africa between 2010 and 2016 inferred from satellite data

Lunt, Mark F.; Palmer, Paul I.; Feng, Liang; Taylor, Christopher M.; Boesch, Hartmut; Parker, Robert J.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-14721-2019

Articles | Volume 19, issue 23

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-14721-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-14721-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 19, issue 23

Research article

| Highlight paper

|

11 Dec 2019

Research article | Highlight paper |

| 11 Dec 2019

An increase in methane emissions from tropical Africa between 2010 and 2016 inferred from satellite data

Mark F. Lunt, Paul I. Palmer, Liang Feng, Christopher M. Taylor, Hartmut Boesch, and Robert J. Parker

Data sets

UoL GOSAT satellite column observations of CH4 Centre for Environmental Data Analysis http://catalogue.ceda.ac.uk/uuid/f9154243fd8744bdaf2a59c39033e659

Model code and software

GEOS-Chem model GEOS-Chem Support Team http://acmg.seas.harvard.edu/geos/

Short summary

Using data from the GOSAT satellite between 2010 and 2016 and a Bayesian inversion approach, we estimate monthly emissions of methane from tropical Africa. We find an increase in methane emissions during this period, driven in part by rising emissions from South Sudan. Using ancillary data we attribute this short-term emissions rise to an increase in the extent of the Sudd wetlands driven by increased outflow from the East African lakes.