Interpreting the Seasonality of Atmospheric Methane

Abstract

Surface and satellite observations of atmospheric methane show smooth seasonal behavior in the Southern Hemisphere driven by loss from the hydroxyl (OH) radical. However, observations in the Northern Hemisphere show a sharp mid-summer increase that is asymmetric with the Southern Hemisphere and not captured by the default configuration of the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model. Using an ensemble of 22 OH model estimates and 24 wetland emission inventories in GEOS-Chem, we show that the magnitude, latitudinal distribution, and seasonality of Northern Hemisphere wetland emissions are critical for reproducing the observed seasonality of methane in that hemisphere, with the interhemispheric OH ratio playing a lesser role. Reproducing the observed seasonality requires a wetland emission inventory with ∼80 Tg a−1 poleward of 10°N including significant emissions in South Asia, and an August peak in boreal emissions persisting into autumn. In our 24-member wetland emission ensemble, only the LPJ-wsl MERRA-2 inventory has these attributes.