Publication Date:
2010-07-13
Description:
The attribution of spatial and temporal variations in terrestrial methane (CH4) flux is essential for assessing and mitigating CH4 emission from terrestrial ecosystems. In this study, we used a process-based model, the Dynamic Land Ecosystem Model (DLEM), in conjunction with spatial data of six major environmental factors to attribute the spatial and temporal variations in the terrestrial methane (CH4) flux over North America from 1979 to 2008 to six individual factors and their interaction. Over the past three decades, our simulation indicates that global change factors accumulatively contributed 43.05 Tg CH4-C (1 Tg = 1012 g) emission over North America, among which ozone (O3) pollution led to a reduced CH4 emission by 2.69 Tg CH4-C, all other factors including climate variability, nitrogen (N) deposition, rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), N fertilization, and land conversion increased terrestrial CH4 emissions by 40.37 Tg CH4-C, 0.42 Tg CH4-C, 6.95 Tg CH4-C, 0.11 Tg CH4-C, and 3.70 Tg CH4-C, respectively, and interaction between/among these global change factors led to a decline of CH4 emission by 5.80 Tg CH4-C. Climatic variability dominated the inter-annual variations in terrestrial CH4 fluxes at both continental and country levels. The relative importance of each environmental factor in determining the magnitude of methane flux shows substantially spatial variation across North America. This factorial attribution of CH4 fluxes over the North America might benefit policy makers who would like to curb climate warming by reducing CH4 emission.
Print ISSN:
1810-6277
Electronic ISSN:
1810-6285
Topics:
Biology
,
Geosciences
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