Articles | Volume 26, issue 11
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-7765-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-7765-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Distinct dual-isotopic signatures of major methane sources in South Asia
Department of Environmental Science (ACES) and the Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, Stockholm 10691, Sweden
Katja Belec
Department of Environmental Science (ACES) and the Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, Stockholm 10691, Sweden
Henry Holmstrand
Department of Environmental Science (ACES) and the Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, Stockholm 10691, Sweden
Josh Balacky
Department of Environmental Science (ACES) and the Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, Stockholm 10691, Sweden
Abdus Salam
Department of Chemistry, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh
Krishnakant Budhavant
Divecha Centre for Climate Change, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India
Maldives Climate Observatory-Hanimaadhoo (MCOH), Maldives Meteorological Services, H. Dh. Hanimaadhoo 02020, Maldives
Mohanan Remani Manoj
Department of Environmental Science (ACES) and the Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, Stockholm 10691, Sweden
Khaled Shaifullah Joy
Department of Chemistry, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh
Department of Chemistry, Drexel University, Philadelphia, 19104, United States
Md. Alamin Hossain
Department of Chemistry, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh
Atinderpal Singh
Department of Environmental Studies, University of Delhi, Delhi, 110007, India
Anil Patel
Geosciences Division, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad 380009, India
Bagchi School of Public Health, Ahmedabad University, Ahmedabad 380009, Gujarat, India
The Climate Institute, Ahmedabad University, Ahmedabad 380009, Gujarat, India
Neeraj Rastogi
Geosciences Division, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad 380009, India
Chinmay Mallik
Department of Atmospheric Science, Central University of Rajasthan, Ajmer 305801, India
Kirpa Ram
Department of Chemistry, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005, India
Gyanesh Kumar Singh
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, 208016, India
Air Quality and Aerosol Metrology (AQAM) Group, National Physical Laboratory (NPL), Teddington, London TW11 0LW, UK
Örjan Gustafsson
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Department of Environmental Science (ACES) and the Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, Stockholm 10691, Sweden
Related authors
Peng Yao, Rupert Holzinger, Beatriz Sayuri Oyama, Agne Masalaite, Dipayan Paul, Haiyan Ni, Hanne Noto, Dušan Materić, Maria de Fátima Andrade, Ru-Jin Huang, and Ulrike Dusek
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 5005–5018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-5005-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-5005-2026, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
We identify a previously unrecognized class of synthetic organic compounds, large molecular methylsiloxanes, in ambient aerosols across diverse environments in three countries. These compounds are present at substantial levels, primarily originating from traffic emissions related to engine lubrication. Their high abundance and significant daily human exposure suggest potential, yet still poorly understood, implications for both health and climate.
Xinya Liu, Bas Henzing, Arjan Hensen, Jan Mulder, Peng Yao, Danielle van Dinther, Jerry van Bronckhorst, Rujin Huang, and Ulrike Dusek
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 3405–3420, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3405-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3405-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We evaluated the time-of-flight aerosol chemical speciation monitor (TOF-ACSM) following the implementation of the PM2.5 aerodynamic lens and a capture vaporizer (CV). The results showed that it significantly improved the accuracy and precision of ACSM in the field observations. The paper elucidates the measurement outcomes of various instruments and provides an analysis of their biases. This comprehensive evaluation is expected to benefit the ACSM community and other aerosol field measurements.
Roland Vernooij, Ulrike Dusek, Maria Elena Popa, Peng Yao, Anupam Shaikat, Chenxi Qiu, Patrik Winiger, Carina van der Veen, Thomas Callum Eames, Natasha Ribeiro, and Guido R. van der Werf
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 2871–2890, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2871-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2871-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Landscape fires are a major source of greenhouse gases and aerosols, particularly in sub-tropical savannas. Stable carbon isotopes in emissions can be used to trace the contribution of C3 plants (e.g. trees or shrubs) and C4 plants (e.g. savanna grasses) to greenhouse gases and aerosols if the process is well understood. This helps us to link individual vegetation types to emissions, identify biomass burning emissions in the atmosphere, and improve the reconstruction of historic fire regimes.
Albin Eriksson, Junjie Wu, Matt O'Regan, and Örjan Gustafsson
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-2414, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-2414, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Climate of the Past (CP).
Short summary
Short summary
Sea ice is an important regulator of the Arctic climate systems. Records of sea ice past instrumental records are necessary to understand how sea ice is altered during past periods of abrupt climate change, and what consequences such changes have on the polar climates. Here, we reconstructed the sea ice cover of the East Siberian Arctic and found that the sea ice extent likely was linked to protecting/eroding permafrost coastlines during the last deglaciation.
Sean Clarke, Henry Holmstrand, Krishnakant Budhavant, Manoj Remani, Sophie Haslett, Katerina Rodiouchkina, Ellen Kooijman, and Örjan Gustafsson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 5333–5343, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-5333-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-5333-2026, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
South Asia has the world's highest loadings of sulfate, scattering sunlight, altering clouds and masking greenhouse warming, yet there are large uncertainties regarding the relative contributions of natural and anthropogenic sources to the receptor atmosphere. Here we use δ34S isotopes to distinguish natural versus anthropogenic sulfate sources, revealing strong seasonal contrasts and quantifying the dominance of anthropogenic contributions.
Peng Yao, Rupert Holzinger, Beatriz Sayuri Oyama, Agne Masalaite, Dipayan Paul, Haiyan Ni, Hanne Noto, Dušan Materić, Maria de Fátima Andrade, Ru-Jin Huang, and Ulrike Dusek
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 5005–5018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-5005-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-5005-2026, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
We identify a previously unrecognized class of synthetic organic compounds, large molecular methylsiloxanes, in ambient aerosols across diverse environments in three countries. These compounds are present at substantial levels, primarily originating from traffic emissions related to engine lubrication. Their high abundance and significant daily human exposure suggest potential, yet still poorly understood, implications for both health and climate.
Karin Stegelius, Pauline Thompson, Pia Karbiener, Piotr Markuszewski, Andre S. H. Prevot, Sachchida N. Tripathi, Claudia Mohr, Liine Heikkinen, Krishnakant Budhavant, and Sophie L. Haslett
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-914, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-914, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
High-time-resolution observations in the Maldives indicate that submicron aerosol over the northern Indian Ocean is primarily composed of inorganic sulfate and highly oxidised organic matter, indicative of aged continental outflow. The consistent composition across various air mass origins, alongside identification of sulfur-containing organics, underscores the influence of long-range transport and sulfate-driven secondary chemistry on regional aerosol characteristics and their climate impacts.
Albin Eriksson, Birgit Wild, Wei-Li Hong, Henry Holmstrand, Francisco J. A. Nascimento, Stefano Bonaglia, Denis Kosmach, Igor Semiletov, Natalia Shakhova, and Örjan Gustafsson
Biogeosciences, 23, 1459–1475, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-1459-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-1459-2026, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
Thawing subsea permafrost in the East Siberian Arctic Seas releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Using molecular fossils in sediments, we traced aerobic methane oxidation as a proxy of enhanced methane cycling across the Laptev Sea, including in regions once thought low in emissions. This approach captures long-term patterns of methane cycling over years-decades , overcoming limits of short-term seawater measurements and highlights the importance of the Laptev Sea in Arctic methane cycling.
Hazel Vernier, Demilson Quintao, Bruno Biazon, Eduardo Landulfo, Giovanni Souza, Amanda Santos, Fabio Lopes, Alex Mendes, José da Matta, Pinheiro Damaris, Benoit Grosslin, Maria Paulete, Maria de Fátima Andrade, Neeraj Rastogi, Akhil Raj, Hongyu Liu, Mahesh Kovilakam, Suvarna Fadnavis, Frank Wienhold, Mathieu Colombier, Chris Boone, Gwenael Berthet, Nicolas Dumelie, Lilian Joly, and Jean-Paul Vernier
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6226, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6226, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
This paper shows unique balloon measurements from Brazil within the Hunga volcanic plume eight months after the eruption. The chemical analysis of samples collected reveal new insights on volcanic aerosol composition and suggest the presence of marine aerosols.
Md. Al-Amin Hossen, Mehedi Hasan Shakil, Md. Fahim Ehasan, Abu Rayhan Mohammad Tareq, and Abdus Salam
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 14629–14642, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-14629-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-14629-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study provides comprehensive insights into the compositions, surface elements, and formation mechanism of BrC in the atmosphere of Dhaka, Bangladesh, through the identification and quantification of seven key phenolic precursors and a laboratory-based aqueous-phase nitration experiment. We observed that PM2.5 particles predominantly exhibited spherical, irregular, and chain-like morphologies, with carbonaceous species, minerals, and trace elements.
Chayan Roychoudhury, Rajesh Kumar, Cenlin He, William Y. Y. Cheng, Kirpa Ram, Naoki Mizukami, and Avelino F. Arellano
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-275, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-275, 2025
Preprint under review for ESSD
Short summary
Short summary
We present a 17-year, 12 km regional dataset for Asia that uniquely captures aerosol–weather–snow interactions. By assimilating satellite data into a chemistry–climate model, it provides hourly to three-hourly fields of meteorology, air quality, and snow-related variables. Evaluations show good agreement with observations, and source attribution of black carbon is also provided to quantify pollution pathways to Asia’s glaciers, major freshwater source for over a billion people.
Ashutosh K. Shukla, Sachchida N. Tripathi, Shamitaksha Talukdar, Vishnu Murari, Sreenivas Gaddamidi, Manousos-Ioannis Manousakas, Vipul Lalchandani, Kuldeep Dixit, Vinayak M. Ruge, Peeyush Khare, Mayank Kumar, Vikram Singh, Neeraj Rastogi, Suresh Tiwari, Atul K. Srivastava, Dilip Ganguly, Kaspar Rudolf Daellenbach, and André S. H. Prévôt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3765–3784, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3765-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3765-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Our study delves into the elemental composition of aerosols at three sites across the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP), revealing distinct patterns during pollution episodes. We found significant increases in chlorine (Cl)-rich and solid fuel combustion (SFC) sources, indicating dynamic emission sources, agricultural burning impacts, and meteorological influences. Surges in Cl-rich particles during cold periods highlight their role in particle growth under high-relative-humidity conditions.
Hazel Vernier, Demilson Quintão, Bruno Biazon, Eduardo Landulfo, Giovanni Souza, V. Amanda Santos, J. S. Fabio Lopes, C. P. Alex Mendes, A. S. José da Matta, K. Pinheiro Damaris, Benoit Grosslin, P. M. P. Maria Jorge, Maria de Fátima Andrade, Neeraj Rastogi, Akhil Raj, Hongyu Liu, Mahesh Kovilakam, Suvarna Fadnavis, Frank G. Wienhold, Mathieu Colombier, D. Chris Boone, Gwenael Berthet, Nicolas Dumelie, Lilian Joly, and Jean-Paul Vernier
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-924, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-924, 2025
Preprint withdrawn
Short summary
Short summary
The eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai injected large amounts of water vapor and sea salt into the stratosphere, altering traditional views of volcanic aerosols. Using balloon-borne samplers, we collected aerosol samples and found high levels of sea salt and calcium, suggesting sulfate depletion due to gypsum formation. These findings highlight the need to consider sea salt in climate models to better predict volcanic impacts on the atmosphere and climate.
Krishnakant Budhavant, Mohanan Remani Manoj, Hari Ram Chandrika Rajendran Nair, Samuel Mwaniki Gaita, Henry Holmstrand, Abdus Salam, Ahmed Muslim, Sreedharan Krishnakumari Satheesh, and Örjan Gustafsson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 11911–11925, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11911-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11911-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The South Asian Pollution Experiment 2018 used access to three strategically located receptor observatories. Observational constraints revealed opposing trends in the mass absorption cross sections of black carbon (BC MAC) and brown carbon (BrC MAC) during long-range transport. Models estimating the climate effects of BC aerosols may have underestimated the ambient BC MAC over distant receptor areas, leading to discrepancies in aerosol absorption predicted by observation-constrained models.
Xinya Liu, Bas Henzing, Arjan Hensen, Jan Mulder, Peng Yao, Danielle van Dinther, Jerry van Bronckhorst, Rujin Huang, and Ulrike Dusek
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 3405–3420, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3405-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3405-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We evaluated the time-of-flight aerosol chemical speciation monitor (TOF-ACSM) following the implementation of the PM2.5 aerodynamic lens and a capture vaporizer (CV). The results showed that it significantly improved the accuracy and precision of ACSM in the field observations. The paper elucidates the measurement outcomes of various instruments and provides an analysis of their biases. This comprehensive evaluation is expected to benefit the ACSM community and other aerosol field measurements.
Leonard Kirago, Örjan Gustafsson, Samuel Mwaniki Gaita, Sophie L. Haslett, Michael J. Gatari, Maria Elena Popa, Thomas Röckmann, Christoph Zellweger, Martin Steinbacher, Jörg Klausen, Christian Félix, David Njiru, and August Andersson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 14349–14357, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14349-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14349-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This study provides ground-observational evidence that supports earlier suggestions that savanna fires are the main emitters and modulators of carbon monoxide gas in Africa. Using isotope-based techniques, the study has shown that about two-thirds of this gas is emitted from savanna fires, while for urban areas, in this case Nairobi, primary sources approach 100 %. The latter has implications for air quality policy, suggesting primary emissions such as traffic should be targeted.
Nair Krishnan Kala, Narayana Sarma Anand, Mohanan R. Manoj, Srinivasan Prasanth, Harshavardhana S. Pathak, Thara Prabhakaran, Pramod D. Safai, Krishnaswamy K. Moorthy, and Sreedharan K. Satheesh
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 12801–12819, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-12801-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-12801-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We present a 3D data set of aerosol black carbon over the Indian mainland by assimilating data from surface, aircraft, and balloon measurements, along with multi-satellite observations. Radiative transfer computations using height-resolved aerosol absorption show higher warming in the free troposphere and will have large implications for atmospheric stability. This data set will help reduce the uncertainty in aerosol radiative effects in climate model simulations over the Indian region.
Christoph Heinze, Thorsten Blenckner, Peter Brown, Friederike Fröb, Anne Morée, Adrian L. New, Cara Nissen, Stefanie Rynders, Isabel Seguro, Yevgeny Aksenov, Yuri Artioli, Timothée Bourgeois, Friedrich Burger, Jonathan Buzan, B. B. Cael, Veli Çağlar Yumruktepe, Melissa Chierici, Christopher Danek, Ulf Dieckmann, Agneta Fransson, Thomas Frölicher, Giovanni Galli, Marion Gehlen, Aridane G. González, Melchor Gonzalez-Davila, Nicolas Gruber, Örjan Gustafsson, Judith Hauck, Mikko Heino, Stephanie Henson, Jenny Hieronymus, I. Emma Huertas, Fatma Jebri, Aurich Jeltsch-Thömmes, Fortunat Joos, Jaideep Joshi, Stephen Kelly, Nandini Menon, Precious Mongwe, Laurent Oziel, Sólveig Ólafsdottir, Julien Palmieri, Fiz F. Pérez, Rajamohanan Pillai Ranith, Juliano Ramanantsoa, Tilla Roy, Dagmara Rusiecka, J. Magdalena Santana Casiano, Yeray Santana-Falcón, Jörg Schwinger, Roland Séférian, Miriam Seifert, Anna Shchiptsova, Bablu Sinha, Christopher Somes, Reiner Steinfeldt, Dandan Tao, Jerry Tjiputra, Adam Ulfsbo, Christoph Völker, Tsuyoshi Wakamatsu, and Ying Ye
Biogeosciences Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2023-182, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2023-182, 2023
Revised manuscript not accepted
Short summary
Short summary
For assessing the consequences of human-induced climate change for the marine realm, it is necessary to not only look at gradual changes but also at abrupt changes of environmental conditions. We summarise abrupt changes in ocean warming, acidification, and oxygen concentration as the key environmental factors for ecosystems. Taking these abrupt changes into account requires greenhouse gas emissions to be reduced to a larger extent than previously thought to limit respective damage.
Sophie L. Haslett, David M. Bell, Varun Kumar, Jay G. Slowik, Dongyu S. Wang, Suneeti Mishra, Neeraj Rastogi, Atinderpal Singh, Dilip Ganguly, Joel Thornton, Feixue Zheng, Yuanyuan Li, Wei Nie, Yongchun Liu, Wei Ma, Chao Yan, Markku Kulmala, Kaspar R. Daellenbach, David Hadden, Urs Baltensperger, Andre S. H. Prevot, Sachchida N. Tripathi, and Claudia Mohr
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 9023–9036, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9023-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9023-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
In Delhi, some aspects of daytime and nighttime atmospheric chemistry are inverted, and parodoxically, vehicle emissions may be limiting other forms of particle production. This is because the nighttime emissions of nitrogen oxide (NO) by traffic and biomass burning prevent some chemical processes that would otherwise create even more particles and worsen the urban haze.
Hazel Vernier, Neeraj Rastogi, Hongyu Liu, Amit Kumar Pandit, Kris Bedka, Anil Patel, Madineni Venkat Ratnam, Buduru Suneel Kumar, Bo Zhang, Harish Gadhavi, Frank Wienhold, Gwenael Berthet, and Jean-Paul Vernier
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 12675–12694, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12675-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12675-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The chemical composition of the stratospheric aerosols collected aboard high-altitude balloons above the summer Asian monsoon reveals the presence of nitrate/nitrite. Using numerical simulations and satellite observations, we found that pollution as well as lightning could explain some of our observations.
Varun Kumar, Stamatios Giannoukos, Sophie L. Haslett, Yandong Tong, Atinderpal Singh, Amelie Bertrand, Chuan Ping Lee, Dongyu S. Wang, Deepika Bhattu, Giulia Stefenelli, Jay S. Dave, Joseph V. Puthussery, Lu Qi, Pawan Vats, Pragati Rai, Roberto Casotto, Rangu Satish, Suneeti Mishra, Veronika Pospisilova, Claudia Mohr, David M. Bell, Dilip Ganguly, Vishal Verma, Neeraj Rastogi, Urs Baltensperger, Sachchida N. Tripathi, André S. H. Prévôt, and Jay G. Slowik
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 7739–7761, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7739-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7739-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Here we present source apportionment results from the first field deployment in Delhi of an extractive electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometer (EESI-TOF). The EESI-TOF is a recently developed instrument capable of providing uniquely detailed online chemical characterization of organic aerosol (OA), in particular the secondary OA (SOA) fraction. Here, we are able to apportion not only primary OA but also SOA to specific sources, which is performed for the first time in Delhi.
Nair K. Kala, Narayana Sarma Anand, Mohanan R. Manoj, Harshavardhana S. Pathak, Krishnaswamy K. Moorthy, and Sreedharan K. Satheesh
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 6067–6085, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6067-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6067-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We present the 3-D distribution of atmospheric aerosols and highlight its variation with respect to longitudes over the Indian mainland and the surrounding oceans using long-term satellite observations and realistic synthesised data. The atmospheric heating due to the 3-D distribution of aerosols is estimated using radiative transfer calculations. We believe that our findings will have strong implications for aerosol–radiation interactions in regional climate simulations.
Himadri Sekhar Bhowmik, Ashutosh Shukla, Vipul Lalchandani, Jay Dave, Neeraj Rastogi, Mayank Kumar, Vikram Singh, and Sachchida Nand Tripathi
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 2667–2684, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2667-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2667-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents comparisons between online and offline measurements of both refractory and non-refractory aerosol. This study shows differences between the measurements, related to either the limitations of the instrument (e.g., aerosol mass spectrometer only observing non-refractory aerosol) or known interferences with the technique (e.g., volatilization or reactions). The findings highlight the measurement methods' accuracy and imply the particular type of measurements needed.
Roland Vernooij, Ulrike Dusek, Maria Elena Popa, Peng Yao, Anupam Shaikat, Chenxi Qiu, Patrik Winiger, Carina van der Veen, Thomas Callum Eames, Natasha Ribeiro, and Guido R. van der Werf
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 2871–2890, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2871-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2871-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Landscape fires are a major source of greenhouse gases and aerosols, particularly in sub-tropical savannas. Stable carbon isotopes in emissions can be used to trace the contribution of C3 plants (e.g. trees or shrubs) and C4 plants (e.g. savanna grasses) to greenhouse gases and aerosols if the process is well understood. This helps us to link individual vegetation types to emissions, identify biomass burning emissions in the atmosphere, and improve the reconstruction of historic fire regimes.
Mohanan R. Manoj, Sreedharan K. Satheesh, Krishnaswamy K. Moorthy, Jamie Trembath, and Hugh Coe
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 8979–8997, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8979-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8979-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Vertical distributions of atmospheric aerosols across the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) and their ability to form clouds have been studied based on airborne measurements during the SWAAMI field campaign. The ability of the aerosols to act as cloud-forming nuclei exhibited large spatial variation across the IGP and strong seasonality with increase in this ability with increase in altitude prior to the onset of monsoon and decrease with increase in altitude during the active phase of the monsoon.
Jannik Martens, Evgeny Romankevich, Igor Semiletov, Birgit Wild, Bart van Dongen, Jorien Vonk, Tommaso Tesi, Natalia Shakhova, Oleg V. Dudarev, Denis Kosmach, Alexander Vetrov, Leopold Lobkovsky, Nikolay Belyaev, Robie W. Macdonald, Anna J. Pieńkowski, Timothy I. Eglinton, Negar Haghipour, Salve Dahle, Michael L. Carroll, Emmelie K. L. Åström, Jacqueline M. Grebmeier, Lee W. Cooper, Göran Possnert, and Örjan Gustafsson
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 2561–2572, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-2561-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-2561-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The paper describes the establishment, structure and current status of the first Circum-Arctic Sediment CArbon DatabasE (CASCADE), which is a scientific effort to harmonize and curate all published and unpublished data of carbon, nitrogen, carbon isotopes, and terrigenous biomarkers in sediments of the Arctic Ocean in one database. CASCADE will enable a variety of studies of the Arctic carbon cycle and thus contribute to a better understanding of how climate change affects the Arctic.
Cited articles
Bakkaloglu, S., Lowry, D., Fisher, R. E., Menoud, M., Lanoisellé, M., Chen, H., Röckmann, T., and Nisbet, E. G.: Stable isotopic signatures of methane from waste sources through atmospheric measurements, Atmos. Environ., 276, 119021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2022.119021, 2022.
Bock, M., Schmitt, J., Beck, J., Seth, B., Chappellaz, J., and Fischer, H.: Glacial/interglacial wetland, biomass burning, and geologic methane emissions constrained by dual stable isotopic CH4 ice core records, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 114, E5778–E5786, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1613883114, 2017.
Bousquet, P., Ciais, P., Miller, J. B., Dlugokencky, E. J., Hauglustaine, D. A., Prigent, C., Van der Werf, G. R., Peylin, P., Brunke, E.-G., Carouge, C., Langenfelds, R. L., Lathière, J., Papa, F., Ramonet, M., Schmidt, M., Steele, L. P., Tyler, S. C., and White, J.: Contribution of anthropogenic and natural sources to atmospheric methane variability, Nature, 443, 439–443, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05132, 2006.
Brownlow, R., Lowry, D., Fisher, R. E., France, J. L., Lanoisellé, M., White, B., Wooster, M. J., Zhang, T., and Nisbet, E. G.: Isotopic Ratios of Tropical Methane Emissions by Atmospheric Measurement, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 31, 1408–1419, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GB005689, 2017.
Chakraborty, M., Sharma, C., Pandey, J., Singh, N., and Gupta, P. K.: Methane emission estimation from landfills in Delhi: A comparative assessment of different methodologies, Atmos. Environ., 45, 7135–7142, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2011.09.015, 2011.
Chandra, N., Patra, P. K., Bisht, J. S. H., Ito, A., Umezawa, T., Saigusa, N., Morimoto, S., Aoki, S., Janssens-Maenhout, G., Fujita, R., Takigawa, M., Watanabe, S., Saitoh, N., and Canadell, J. G.: Emissions from the Oil and Gas Sectors, Coal Mining and Ruminant Farming Drive Methane Growth over the Past Three Decades, J. Meteorol. Soc. Japan. Ser. II, 99, 2021–015, https://doi.org/10.2151/jmsj.2021-015, 2021.
Chang, J., Peng, S., Ciais, P., Saunois, M., Dangal, S. R. S., Herrero, M., Havlík, P., Tian, H., and Bousquet, P.: Revisiting enteric methane emissions from domestic ruminants and their δ13CCH4 source signature, Nat. Commun., 10, 3420, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-11066-3, 2019.
Ciais, P., Zhu, Y., Cai, Y., Lan, X., Michel, S. E., Zheng, B., Zhao, Y., Hauglustaine, D. A., Lin, X., Zhang, Y., Sun, S., Tian, X., Zhao, M., Wang, Y., Chang, J., Dou, X., Liu, Z., Andrew, R., Quinn, C. A., Poulter, B., Ouyang, Z., Yuan, W., Yuan, K., Zhu, Q., Li, F., Pan, N., Tian, H., Yu, X., Rocher-Ros, G., Johnson, M. S., Li, M., Li, M., Feng, D., Raymond, P., Yang, X., Canadell, J. G., Jackson, R. B., Yu, X., Li, Y., Saunois, M., Bousquet, P., and Peng, S.: Why methane surged in the atmosphere during the early 2020s, Science, 391, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adx8262, 2026.
Cicerone, R. J. and Shetter, J. D.: Sources of atmospheric methane: Measurements in rice paddies and a discussion, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 86, 7203–7209, https://doi.org/10.1029/JC086iC08p07203, 1981.
Conrad, R.: Quantification of methanogenic pathways using stable carbon isotopic signatures: a review and a proposal, Org. Geochem., 36, 739–752, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orggeochem.2004.09.006, 2005.
Crippa, M., Guizzardi, D., Pagani, F., Banja, M., Muntean, M., Schaaf, E., Monforti-Ferrario, F., Becker, W., Quadrelli, R., Risquez Martin, A., Taghavi-Moharamli, P., Köykkä, J., Grassi, G., Rossi, S., Melo, J., Oom, D., Branco, A., San-Miguel, J., Manca, G., Pisoni, E., Vignati, E., and Pekar, F.: GHG emissions of all world countries, Publ. Off. Eur Union, Luxembourg, https://doi.org/10.2760/4002897, 2024.
Cusworth, D. H., Duren, R. M., Ayasse, A. K., Jiorle, R., Howell, K., Aubrey, A., Green, R. O., Eastwood, M. L., Chapman, J. W., Thorpe, A. K., Heckler, J., Asner, G. P., Smith, M. L., Thoma, E., Krause, M. J., Heins, D., and Thorneloe, S.: Quantifying methane emissions from United States landfills, Science, 383, 1499–1504, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adi7735, 2024.
Dasari, S., Andersson, A., Stohl, A., Evangeliou, N., Bikkina, S., Holmstrand, H., Budhavant, K., Salam, A., and Gustafsson, Ö.: Source Quantification of South Asian Black Carbon Aerosols with Isotopes and Modeling, Environ. Sci. Technol., 54, 11771–11779, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c02193, 2020.
Dasgupta, B., Pandey, S., Houweling, S., Menoud, M., van der Veen, C., Miller, J., Riddell-Young, B., Englund Michel, S., Sperlich, P., Morimoto, S., Fujita, R., Levin, I., Veidt, C., Platt, S., Groot Zwaaftink, C., Lund Myhre, C., Woolley Maisch, C., Fisher, R., G. Nisbet, E., France, J., Moss, R., Warwick, N., and Röckmann, T.: Global Methane Emission Estimates from a Dual-Isotope Inversion: New Constraints from δD–CH4, EGUsphere [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5571, 2025.
Ding, W., Cai, Z., Tsuruta, H., and Li, X.: Effect of standing water depth on methane emissions from freshwater marshes in northeast China, Atmos. Environ., 36, 5149–5157, https://doi.org/10.1016/S1352-2310(02)00647-7, 2002.
Douglas, P. M. J., Stratigopoulos, E., Park, S., and Phan, D.: Geographic variability in freshwater methane hydrogen isotope ratios and its implications for global isotopic source signatures, Biogeosciences, 18, 3505–3527, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3505-2021, 2021.
Dyonisius, M. N., Petrenko, V. V., Smith, A. M., Hua, Q., Yang, B., Schmitt, J., Beck, J., Seth, B., Bock, M., Hmiel, B., Vimont, I., Menking, J. A., Shackleton, S. A., Baggenstos, D., Bauska, T. K., Rhodes, R. H., Sperlich, P., Beaudette, R., Harth, C., Kalk, M., Brook, E. J., Fischer, H., Severinghaus, J. P., and Weiss, R. F.: Old carbon reservoirs were not important in the deglacial methane budget, Science, 367, 907–910, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aax0504, 2020.
Feng, L., Palmer, P. I., Zhu, S., Parker, R. J., and Liu, Y.: Tropical methane emissions explain large fraction of recent changes in global atmospheric methane growth rate, Nat. Commun., 13, 1378, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-28989-z, 2022.
Fischer, H., Behrens, M., Bock, M., Richter, U., Schmitt, J., Loulergue, L., Chappellaz, J., Spahni, R., Blunier, T., Leuenberger, M., and Stocker, T. F.: Changing boreal methane sources and constant biomass burning during the last termination, Nature, 452, 864–867, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06825, 2008.
Fisher, R. E., France, J. L., Lowry, D., Lanoisellé, M., Brownlow, R., Pyle, J. A., Cain, M., Warwick, N., Skiba, U. M., Drewer, J., Dinsmore, K. J., Leeson, S. R., Bauguitte, S. J. B., Wellpott, A., O'Shea, S. J., Allen, G., Gallagher, M. W., Pitt, J., Percival, C. J., Bower, K., George, C., Hayman, G. D., Aalto, T., Lohila, A., Aurela, M., Laurila, T., Crill, P. M., McCalley, C. K., and Nisbet, E. G.: Measurement of the 13C isotopic signature of methane emissions from northern European wetlands, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 31, 605–623, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GB005504, 2017.
France, J. L., Fisher, R. E., Lowry, D., Allen, G., Andrade, M. F., Bauguitte, S. J. B., Bower, K., Broderick, T. J., Daly, M. C., Forster, G., Gondwe, M., Helfter, C., Hoyt, A. M., Jones, A. E., Lanoisellé, M., Moreno, I., Nisbet-Jones, P. B. R., Oram, D., Pasternak, D., Pitt, J. R., Skiba, U., Stephens, M., Wilde, S. E., and Nisbet, E. G.: δ13C methane source signatures from tropical wetland and rice field emissions, Philos. T. R. Soc. A, 380, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2020.0449, 2022.
Fujita, R., Graven, H., Zazzeri, G., Hmiel, B., Petrenko, V. V., Smith, A. M., Michel, S. E., and Morimoto, S.: Global Fossil Methane Emissions Constrained by Multi-Isotopic Atmospheric Methane Histories, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 130, https://doi.org/10.1029/2024JD041266, 2025.
Ganesan, A. L., Rigby, M., Lunt, M. F., Parker, R. J., Boesch, H., Goulding, N., Umezawa, T., Zahn, A., Chatterjee, A., Prinn, R. G., Tiwari, Y. K., van der Schoot, M., and Krummel, P. B.: Atmospheric observations show accurate reporting and little growth in India's methane emissions, Nat. Commun., 8, 836, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-00994-7, 2017.
Ganesan, A. L., Stell, A. C., Gedney, N., Comyn-Platt, E., Hayman, G., Rigby, M., Poulter, B., and Hornibrook, E. R. C.: Spatially Resolved Isotopic Source Signatures of Wetland Methane Emissions, Geophys. Res. Lett., 45, 3737–3745, https://doi.org/10.1002/2018GL077536, 2018.
Guha, T., Tiwari, Y. K., Valsala, V., Lin, X., Ramonet, M., Mahajan, A., Datye, A., and Kumar, K. R.: What controls the atmospheric methane seasonal variability over India?, Atmos. Environ., 175, 83–91, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2017.11.042, 2018.
Gumma, M. K.: Mapping rice areas of South Asia using MODIS multitemporal data, J. Appl. Remote Sens., 5, 053547, https://doi.org/10.1117/1.3619838, 2011.
Halder, J., Terzer, S., Wassenaar, L. I., Araguás-Araguás, L. J., and Aggarwal, P. K.: The Global Network of Isotopes in Rivers (GNIR): integration of water isotopes in watershed observation and riverine research, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 3419–3431, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-3419-2015, 2015.
Hook, S. E., Wright, A.-D. G., and McBride, B. W.: Methanogens: Methane Producers of the Rumen and Mitigation Strategies, Archaea, 2010, 1–11, https://doi.org/10.1155/2010/945785, 2010.
Hristov, A. N., Harper, M., Meinen, R., Day, R., Lopes, J., Ott, T., Venkatesh, A., and Randles, C. A.: Discrepancies and Uncertainties in Bottom-up Gridded Inventories of Livestock Methane Emissions for the Contiguous United States, Environ. Sci. Technol., 51, 13668–13677, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.7b03332, 2017.
IAEA/WMO: Global Network of Isotopes in Precipitation (GNIP), The GNIP Database, https://nucleus.iaea.org/wiser (last access: 29 May 2026), 2023.
Ito, A., Patra, P. K., and Umezawa, T.: Bottom-Up Evaluation of the Methane Budget in Asia and Its Subregions, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 37, https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GB007723, 2023.
Jackson, R. B., Saunois, M., Bousquet, P., Canadell, J. G., Poulter, B., Stavert, A. R., Bergamaschi, P., Niwa, Y., Segers, A., and Tsuruta, A.: Increasing anthropogenic methane emissions arise equally from agricultural and fossil fuel sources, Environ. Res. Lett., 15, 071002, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab9ed2, 2020.
Jeffrey, L. C., Maher, D. T., Johnston, S. G., Kelaher, B. P., Steven, A., and Tait, D. R.: Wetland methane emissions dominated by plant-mediated fluxes: Contrasting emissions pathways and seasons within a shallow freshwater subtropical wetland, Limnol. Oceanogr., 64, 1895–1912, https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.11158, 2019.
Keeling, C. D.: The concentration and isotopic abundances of atmospheric carbon dioxide in rural areas, Geochim. Cosmochim. Ac., 13, 322–334, https://doi.org/10.1016/0016-7037(58)90033-4, 1958.
Kirschke, S., Bousquet, P., Ciais, P., Saunois, M., Canadell, J. G., Dlugokencky, E. J., Bergamaschi, P., Bergmann, D., Blake, D. R., Bruhwiler, L., Cameron-Smith, P., Castaldi, S., Chevallier, F., Feng, L., Fraser, A., Heimann, M., Hodson, E. L., Houweling, S., Josse, B., Fraser, P. J., Krummel, P. B., Lamarque, J.-F., Langenfelds, R. L., Le Quéré, C., Naik, V., O'Doherty, S., Palmer, P. I., Pison, I., Plummer, D., Poulter, B., Prinn, R. G., Rigby, M., Ringeval, B., Santini, M., Schmidt, M., Shindell, D. T., Simpson, I. J., Spahni, R., Steele, L. P., Strode, S. A., Sudo, K., Szopa, S., van der Werf, G. R., Voulgarakis, A., van Weele, M., Weiss, R. F., Williams, J. E., and Zeng, G.: Three decades of global methane sources and sinks, Nat. Geosci., 6, 813–823, https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1955, 2013.
Lauvaux, T., Giron, C., Mazzolini, M., D'Aspremont, A., Duren, R., Cusworth, D., Shindell, D., and Ciais, P.: Global assessment of oil and gas methane ultra-emitters, Science, 375, 557–561, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abj4351, 2022.
Li, J., Chen, H., Ding, A., Chi, X., Ju, W., Zhang, Y., Ciais, P., Yuan, W., Peng, S., Ma, Z., Yu, G., and Chen, J. M.: Temporal variations of δ13C–CH4 in rice paddies dominated by the plant-mediated pathway, iScience, 28, 112886, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2025.112886, 2025.
Lu, X., Harris, S. J., Fisher, R. E., France, J. L., Nisbet, E. G., Lowry, D., Röckmann, T., van der Veen, C., Menoud, M., Schwietzke, S., and Kelly, B. F. J.: Isotopic signatures of major methane sources in the coal seam gas fields and adjacent agricultural districts, Queensland, Australia, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 10527–10555, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-10527-2021, 2021.
Ma, S., Jiang, J., Huang, Y., Shi, Z., Wilson, R. M., Ricciuto, D., Sebestyen, S. D., Hanson, P. J., and Luo, Y.: Data-Constrained Projections of Methane Fluxes in a Northern Minnesota Peatland in Response to Elevated CO2 and Warming, J. Geophys. Res.-Biogeo., 122, 2841–2861, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JG003932, 2017.
Masson-Delmotte, V., Zhai, P., Pirani, A., Connors, S. L., Péan, C., Berger, S., Caud, N., Chen, Y., Goldfarb, L., and Gomis, M. I.: Climate change 2021: the physical science basis, Contrib. Work. Gr. I to sixth Assess. Rep. Intergov. panel Clim. Chang., 2, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009157896, 2021.
Menoud, M., van der Veen, C., Lowry, D., Fernandez, J. M., Bakkaloglu, S., France, J. L., Fisher, R. E., Maazallahi, H., Stanisavljević, M., Nęcki, J., Vinkovic, K., Łakomiec, P., Rinne, J., Korbeń, P., Schmidt, M., Defratyka, S., Yver-Kwok, C., Andersen, T., Chen, H., and Röckmann, T.: New contributions of measurements in Europe to the global inventory of the stable isotopic composition of methane, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 4365–4386, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4365-2022, 2022.
Metya, A., Datye, A., Chakraborty, S., Tiwari, Y. K., Patra, P. K., and Murkute, C.: Methane sources from waste and natural gas sectors detected in Pune, India, by concentration and isotopic analysis, Sci. Total Environ., 842, 156721, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.156721, 2022.
Michel, S. E., Lan, X., Miller, J., Tans, P., Clark, J. R., Schaefer, H., Sperlich, P., Brailsford, G., Morimoto, S., Moossen, H., and Li, J.: Rapid shift in methane carbon isotopes suggests microbial emissions drove record high atmospheric methane growth in 2020–2022, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 121, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2411212121, 2024.
Miller, J. B. and Tans, P. P.: Calculating isotopic fractionation from atmospheric measurements at various scales, Tellus B, 55, 207, https://doi.org/10.3402/tellusb.v55i2.16697, 2003.
Naik, V., Szopa, S., Adhikary, B., Artaxo, P., Berntsen, T., Collins, W. D., Fuzzi, S., Gallardo, L., Kiendler-Scharr, A., and Klimont, Z.: Short-lived Climate Forcers, in: Climate Change 2021 – The Physical Science Basis, Cambridge University Press, 817–922, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009157896.008, 2023.
Nan, Y., Tian, F., Hu, H., Wang, L., and Zhao, S.: Stable Isotope Composition of River Waters across the World, Water, 11, 1760, https://doi.org/10.3390/w11091760, 2019.
Van Der Nat, F.-J. W. A. and Middelburg, J. J.: Effects of two common macrophytes on methane dynamics in freshwater sediments, Biogeochemistry, 43, 79–104, https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006076527187, 1998.
Nisbet, E. G. and Manning, M. R.: What is causing the methane surge?, Science, 391, 556–557, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aee6226, 2026.
Nisbet, E. G., Fisher, R. E., Lowry, D., France, J. L., Allen, G., Bakkaloglu, S., Broderick, T. J., Cain, M., Coleman, M., Fernandez, J., Forster, G., Griffiths, P. T., Iverach, C. P., Kelly, B. F. J., Manning, M. R., Nisbet-Jones, P. B. R., Pyle, J. A., Townsend-Small, A., Al-Shalaan, A., Warwick, N., and Zazzeri, G.: Methane Mitigation: Methods to Reduce Emissions, on the Path to the Paris Agreement, Rev. Geophys., 58, 1–51, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019RG000675, 2020.
Nisbet, E. G., Allen, G., Fisher, R. E., France, J. L., Lee, J. D., Lowry, D., Andrade, M. F., Bannan, T. J., Barker, P., Bateson, P., Bauguitte, S. J. B., Bower, K. N., Broderick, T. J., Chibesakunda, F., Cain, M., Cozens, A. E., Daly, M. C., Ganesan, A. L., Jones, A. E., Lambakasa, M., Lunt, M. F., Mehra, A., Moreno, I., Pasternak, D., Palmer, P. I., Percival, C. J., Pitt, J. R., Riddle, A. J., Rigby, M., Shaw, J. T., Stell, A. C., Vaughan, A. R., Warwick, N. J., E. Wilde, S., Team, M., Nisbet, E. G., Allen, G., Fisher, R. E., France, J. L., Lee, J. D., Lowry, D., Andrade, M. F., Bannan, T. J., and Barker, P.: Isotopic signatures of methane emissions from tropical fires, agriculture and wetlands: the MOYA and ZWAMPS flights, Philos. T. R. Soc. A, 380, 20210112, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2021.0112, 2022.
Nisbet, E. G., Manning, M. R., Dlugokencky, E. J., Michel, S. E., Lan, X., Röckmann, T., Denier van der Gon, H. A. C., Schmitt, J., Palmer, P. I., Dyonisius, M. N., Oh, Y., Fisher, R. E., Lowry, D., France, J. L., White, J. W. C., Brailsford, G., and Bromley, T.: Atmospheric Methane: Comparison Between Methane's Record in 2006–2022 and During Glacial Terminations, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 37, https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GB007875, 2023.
Nisbet, E. G., Manning, M. R., Lowry, D., Fisher, R. E., Lan, X. (Lindsay), Michel, S. E., France, J. L., Nisbet, R. E. R., Bakkaloglu, S., Leitner, S. M., Brooke, C., Röckmann, T., Allen, G., Denier van der Gon, H. A. C., Merbold, L., Scheutz, C., Woolley Maisch, C., Nisbet-Jones, P. B. R., Alshalan, A., Fernandez, J. M., and Dlugokencky, E. J.: Practical paths towards quantifying and mitigating agricultural methane emissions, Proc. R. Soc. A Math. Phys. Eng. Sci., 481, https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.2024.0390, 2025.
Pataki, D. E., Ehleringer, J. R., Flanagan, L. B., Yakir, D., Bowling, D. R., Still, C. J., Buchmann, N., Kaplan, J. O., and Berry, J. A.: The application and interpretation of Keeling plots in terrestrial carbon cycle research, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 17, https://doi.org/10.1029/2001GB001850, 2003.
Patra, P. K., Canadell, J. G., Houghton, R. A., Piao, S. L., Oh, N.-H., Ciais, P., Manjunath, K. R., Chhabra, A., Wang, T., Bhattacharya, T., Bousquet, P., Hartman, J., Ito, A., Mayorga, E., Niwa, Y., Raymond, P. A., Sarma, V. V. S. S., and Lasco, R.: The carbon budget of South Asia, Biogeosciences, 10, 513–527, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-513-2013, 2013.
Peng, S., Lin, X., Thompson, R. L., Xi, Y., Liu, G., Hauglustaine, D., Lan, X., Poulter, B., Ramonet, M., Saunois, M., Yin, Y., Zhang, Z., Zheng, B., and Ciais, P.: Wetland emission and atmospheric sink changes explain methane growth in 2020, Nature, 612, 477–482, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05447-w, 2022.
Polag, D., May, T., Müller, L., König, H., Jacobi, F., Laukenmann, S., and Keppler, F.: Online monitoring of stable carbon isotopes of methane in anaerobic digestion as a new tool for early warning of process instability, Bioresource Technol., 197, 161–170, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2015.08.058, 2015.
Rao, D. K., Bhattacharya, S. K., and Jani, R. A.: Seasonal variations of carbon isotopic composition of methane from Indian paddy fields, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 22, 1–5, https://doi.org/10.1029/2006GB002917, 2008.
Rice, A. L., Gotoh, A. A., Ajie, H. O., and Tyler, S. C.: High-Precision Continuous-Flow Measurement of δ13C and δD of Atmospheric CH4, Anal. Chem., 73, 4104–4110, https://doi.org/10.1021/ac0155106, 2001.
Rice, A. L., Butenhoff, C. L., Teama, D. G., Röger, F. H., Khalil, M. A. K., and Rasmussen, R. A.: Atmospheric methane isotopic record favors fossil sources flat in 1980 s and 1990 s with recent increase, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 113, 10791–10796, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1522923113, 2016.
Riddell-Young, B., Michel, S. E., Lan, X., Tans, P., Röckmann, T., Dasgupta, B., Oh, Y., Bruhwiler, L. M. P., Fujita, R., Umezawa, T., Morimoto, S., and Miller, J. B.: Microbial driver of 2006–2023 CH4 growth indicated by trends in atmospheric δD–CH4 and δ13C–CH4, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 122, 1–10, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2516543122, 2025.
Röckmann, T., Gómez Álvarez, C. X., Walter, S., van der Veen, C., Wollny, A. G., Gunthe, S. S., Helas, G., Pöschl, U., Keppler, F., Greule, M., and Brand, W. A.: Isotopic composition of H2 from wood burning: Dependency on combustion efficiency, moisture content, and δD of local precipitation, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 115, 1–11, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JD013188, 2010.
Rogelj, J., den Elzen, M., Höhne, N., Fransen, T., Fekete, H., Winkler, H., Schaeffer, R., Sha, F., Riahi, K., and Meinshausen, M.: Paris Agreement climate proposals need a boost to keep warming well below 2 °C, Nature, 534, 631–639, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature18307, 2016.
Rosentreter, J. A., Borges, A. V., Deemer, B. R., Holgerson, M. A., Liu, S., Song, C., Melack, J., Raymond, P. A., Duarte, C. M., Allen, G. H., Olefeldt, D., Poulter, B., Battin, T. I., and Eyre, B. D.: Half of global methane emissions come from highly variable aquatic ecosystem sources, Nat. Geosci., 14, 225–230, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-021-00715-2, 2021.
Saunois, M., Martinez, A., Poulter, B., Zhang, Z., Raymond, P. A., Regnier, P., Canadell, J. G., Jackson, R. B., Patra, P. K., Bousquet, P., Ciais, P., Dlugokencky, E. J., Lan, X., Allen, G. H., Bastviken, D., Beerling, D. J., Belikov, D. A., Blake, D. R., Castaldi, S., Crippa, M., Deemer, B. R., Dennison, F., Etiope, G., Gedney, N., Höglund-Isaksson, L., Holgerson, M. A., Hopcroft, P. O., Hugelius, G., Ito, A., Jain, A. K., Janardanan, R., Johnson, M. S., Kleinen, T., Krummel, P. B., Lauerwald, R., Li, T., Liu, X., McDonald, K. C., Melton, J. R., Mühle, J., Müller, J., Murguia-Flores, F., Niwa, Y., Noce, S., Pan, S., Parker, R. J., Peng, C., Ramonet, M., Riley, W. J., Rocher-Ros, G., Rosentreter, J. A., Sasakawa, M., Segers, A., Smith, S. J., Stanley, E. H., Thanwerdas, J., Tian, H., Tsuruta, A., Tubiello, F. N., Weber, T. S., van der Werf, G. R., Worthy, D. E. J., Xi, Y., Yoshida, Y., Zhang, W., Zheng, B., Zhu, Q., Zhu, Q., and Zhuang, Q.: Global Methane Budget 2000–2020, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 1873–1958, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1873-2025, 2025.
Schaefer, H. and Whiticar, M. J.: Potential glacial–interglacial changes in stable carbon isotope ratios of methane sources and sink fractionation, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 22, 1–18, https://doi.org/10.1029/2006GB002889, 2008.
Schaefer, H., Fletcher, S. E. M., Veidt, C., Lassey, K. R., Brailsford, G. W., Bromley, T. M., Dlugokencky, E. J., Michel, S. E., Miller, J. B., Levin, I., Lowe, D. C., Martin, R. J., Vaughn, B. H., and White, J. W. C.: A 21st-century shift from fossil-fuel to biogenic methane emissions indicated by 13CH4, Science, 352, 80–84, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aad2705, 2016.
Schmitt, J., Seth, B., Bock, M., van der Veen, C., Möller, L., Sapart, C. J., Prokopiou, M., Sowers, T., Röckmann, T., and Fischer, H.: On the interference of Kr during carbon isotope analysis of methane using continuous-flow combustion–isotope ratio mass spectrometry, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 1425–1445, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-1425-2013, 2013.
Schütz, H., Seiler, W., and Conrad, R.: Processes involved in formation and emission of methane in rice paddies, Biogeochemistry, 7, 33–53, https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00000896, 1989.
Schwietzke, S., Sherwood, O. A., Bruhwiler, L. M. P., Miller, J. B., Etiope, G., Dlugokencky, E. J., Michel, S. E., Arling, V. A., Vaughn, B. H., White, J. W. C., and Tans, P. P.: Upward revision of global fossil fuel methane emissions based on isotope database, Nature, 538, 88–91, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature19797, 2016.
Shen, L., Jacob, D. J., Gautam, R., Omara, M., Scarpelli, T. R., Lorente, A., Zavala-Araiza, D., Lu, X., Chen, Z., and Lin, J.: National quantifications of methane emissions from fuel exploitation using high resolution inversions of satellite observations, Nat. Commun., 14, 4948, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-40671-6, 2023.
Sherwood, O. A., Schwietzke, S., Arling, V. A., and Etiope, G.: Global Inventory of Gas Geochemistry Data from Fossil Fuel, Microbial and Burning Sources, version 2017, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 9, 639–656, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-639-2017, 2017.
Singh, A., Kuttippurath, J., Abbhishek, K., Mallick, N., Raj, S., Chander, G., and Dixit, S.: Biogenic link to the recent increase in atmospheric methane over India, J. Environ. Manage., 289, 112526, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112526, 2021.
Smartt, A. D., Brye, K. R., and Norman, R. J.: Methane Emissions from Rice Production in the United States – A Review of Controlling Factors and Summary of Research, in: Greenhouse Gases, InTech, https://doi.org/10.5772/62025, 2016.
Stavert, A. R., Saunois, M., Canadell, J. G., Poulter, B., Jackson, R. B., Regnier, P., Lauerwald, R., Raymond, P. A., Allen, G. H., Patra, P. K., Bergamaschi, P., Bousquet, P., Chandra, N., Ciais, P., Gustafson, A., Ishizawa, M., Ito, A., Kleinen, T., Maksyutov, S., McNorton, J., Melton, J. R., Müller, J., Niwa, Y., Peng, S., Riley, W. J., Segers, A., Tian, H., Tsuruta, A., Yin, Y., Zhang, Z., Zheng, B., and Zhuang, Q.: Regional trends and drivers of the global methane budget, Glob. Change Biol., 28, 182–200, https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15901, 2022.
Still, C. J., Berry, J. A., Collatz, G. J., and DeFries, R. S.: Global distribution of C3 and C4 vegetation: Carbon cycle implications, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 17, https://doi.org/10.1029/2001GB001807, 2003.
Tapin, E., Berchet, A., Martinez, A., Menoud, M., Thanwerdas, J., Lan, X., Malina, E., Gasbarra, D., and Saunois, M.: A global dataset of δ13C–CH4 source signatures and associated uncertainties (1998–2022), with a sensitivity analysis to support isotopic inversions, Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss. [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-668, in review, 2026.
Thanwerdas, J., Saunois, M., Berchet, A., Pison, I., and Bousquet, P.: Investigation of the renewed methane growth post-2007 with high-resolution 3-D variational inverse modeling and isotopic constraints, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 2129–2167, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2129-2024, 2024.
Tiwari, Y. K., Guha, T., Valsala, V., Lopez, A. S., Cuevas, C., Fernandez, R. P., and Mahajan, A. S.: Understanding atmospheric methane sub-seasonal variability over India, Atmos. Environ., 223, 117206, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2019.117206, 2020.
Tyler, S. C., Zimmerman, P. R., Cumberbatch, C., Greenberg, J. P., Westberg, C., and Darlington, J. P. E. C.: Measurements and interpretation of δ13C of methane from termites, rice paddies, and wetlands in Kenya, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 2, 341–355, https://doi.org/10.1029/GB002i004p00341, 1988.
Vernooij, R., Dusek, U., Popa, M. E., Yao, P., Shaikat, A., Qiu, C., Winiger, P., van der Veen, C., Eames, T. C., Ribeiro, N., and van der Werf, G. R.: Stable carbon isotopic composition of biomass burning emissions – implications for estimating the contribution of C3 and C4 plants, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 2871–2890, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2871-2022, 2022.
Villa, J. A., Ju, Y., Stephen, T., Rey-Sanchez, C., Wrighton, K. C., and Bohrer, G.: Plant-mediated methane transport in emergent and floating-leaved species of a temperate freshwater mineral-soil wetland, Limnol. Oceanogr., 65, 1635–1650, https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.11467, 2020.
Whiticar, M. and Schaefer, H.: Constraining past global tropospheric methane budgets with carbon and hydrogen isotope ratios in ice, Philos. T. R. Soc. A, 365, 1793–1828, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2007.2048, 2007.
Whiticar, M. ., Faber, E., and Schoell, M.: Biogenic methane formation in marine and freshwater environments: CO2 reduction vs. acetate fermentation – Isotope evidence, Geochim. Cosmochim. Ac., 50, 693–709, https://doi.org/10.1016/0016-7037(86)90346-7, 1986.
Whiticar, M. J.: Carbon and hydrogen isotope systematics of bacterial formation and oxidation of methane, Chem. Geol., 161, 291–314, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0009-2541(99)00092-3, 1999.
Woolley Maisch, C. A., Fisher, R. E., France, J. L., Lowry, D., Lanoisellé, M., Röckmann, T., van der Veen, C., and Nisbet, E. G.: Characterising methane emissions from dairy farm sources using mobile and dual-isotope measurements in Jersey, Channel Islands, Atmos. Environ. X, 28, 100384, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeaoa.2025.100384, 2025.
Yao, P., Huang, R.-J., Ni, H., Kairys, N., Yang, L., Meijer, H. A. J., and Dusek, U.: 13C signatures of aerosol organic and elemental carbon from major combustion sources in China compared to worldwide estimates, Sci. Total Environ., 810, 151284, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.151284, 2022.
Yao, P., Belec, K., Holmstrand, H., Balacky, J., Salam, A., Budhavant, K., Manoj, M. R., Joy, K. S., Hossain, Md. A., Singh, A., Patel, A., Rastogi, N., Mallik, C., Ram, K., Singh, G. K., and Gustafsson, Ö.: Isotopic values of major methane sources in South Asia and worldwide, Dataset version 1, Bolin Centre Database [data set], https://doi.org/10.17043/yao-2026-methane-sources-1, 2026.
Zakharov, V. I., Imasu, R., Gribanov, K. G., Hoffmann, G., and Jouzel, J.: Latitudinal distribution of the deuterium to hydrogen ratio in the atmospheric water vapor retrieved from IMG/ADEOS data, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, 2–5, https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL019433, 2004.
Zavala-Araiza, D., Lyon, D. R., Alvarez, R. A., Davis, K. J., Harriss, R., Herndon, S. C., Karion, A., Kort, E. A., Lamb, B. K., Lan, X., Marchese, A. J., Pacala, S. W., Robinson, A. L., Shepson, P. B., Sweeney, C., Talbot, R., Townsend-Small, A., Yacovitch, T. I., Zimmerle, D. J., and Hamburg, S. P.: Reconciling divergent estimates of oil and gas methane emissions, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 112, 15597–15602, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1522126112, 2015.
Zhang, Z., Poulter, B., Knox, S., Stavert, A., McNicol, G., Fluet-Chouinard, E., Feinberg, A., Zhao, Y., Bousquet, P., Canadell, J. G., Ganesan, A., Hugelius, G., Hurtt, G., Jackson, R. B., Patra, P. K., Saunois, M., Höglund-Isaksson, L., Huang, C., Chatterjee, A., and Li, X.: Anthropogenic emission is the main contributor to the rise of atmospheric methane during 1993–2017, Natl. Sci. Rev., 9, https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwab200, 2022.
Zhao, J., Ciais, P., Chevallier, F., Canadell, J. G., van der Velde, I. R., Chuvieco, E., Chen, Y., Zhang, Q., He, K., and Zheng, B.: Enhanced CH4 emissions from global wildfires likely due to undetected small fires, Nat. Commun., 16, 804, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56218-w, 2025.
Short summary
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, but its sources remain uncertain in many regions. The isotope fingerprints of methane are diagnostic of its sources, yet their source end-members are poorly constrained for South Asia. Here we determined the methane isotope signal for major sources in South Asia and found these to differ from global averages. Improved regional-specific isotope source fingerprints will help to improve top-down assessments of methane budgets and climate mitigation strategies.
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, but its sources remain uncertain in many regions. The...
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint