Large and increasing methane emissions from eastern Amazonia derived from satellite data, 2010–2018

Wilson, Chris; Chipperfield, Martyn P.; Gloor, Manuel; Parker, Robert J.; Boesch, Hartmut; McNorton, Joey; Gatti, Luciana V.; Miller, John B.; Basso, Luana S.; Monks, Sarah A.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-10643-2021

Articles | Volume 21, issue 13

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-10643-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-10643-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 21, issue 13

Research article

|

14 Jul 2021

Research article |

| 14 Jul 2021

Large and increasing methane emissions from eastern Amazonia derived from satellite data, 2010–2018

Chris Wilson, Martyn P. Chipperfield, Manuel Gloor, Robert J. Parker, Hartmut Boesch, Joey McNorton, Luciana V. Gatti, John B. Miller, Luana S. Basso, and Sarah A. Monks

Data sets

Posterior South American monthly mean surface flux of methane (2010–2018) produced using the INVICAT 4D-Var inverse model C. Wilson, M. Chipperfield, M. Gloor, R. Parker, and H. Boesch https://doi.org/10.5285/88224a922439441fa6644b4564dcd90c

ESA Greenhouse Gases Climate Change Initiative (GHG_cci): Column-averaged CH4 from GOSAT generated with the OCPR (UoL-PR) Proxy algorithm (CH4_GOS_OCPR), v7.0 ESA CCI GHG project team https://catalogue.ceda.ac.uk/uuid/f9154243fd8744bdaf2a59c39033e659

Short summary

Methane (CH₄) is an important greenhouse gas emitted from wetlands like those found in the basin of the Amazon River. Using an atmospheric model and observations from GOSAT, we quantified CH₄ emissions from Amazonia during the previous decade. We found that the largest emissions came from a region in the eastern basin and that emissions there were rising faster than in other areas of South America. This finding was supported by CH₄ observations made on aircraft within the basin.