Atmospheric Physics and Chemistry Group (APCG)

 

Past Projects

Bottom-up modeling of tropical wetland CH4 emissions

Bruno Ringeval

 

Reconstructions from polar ice cores show that CH4 concentrations have varied in concert with past climate: in paleo-records, CH4    concentration acts as a global signature of biogeochemical cycles and reveals information about the climatic state. However, CH4 has also an effect on the climate by contributing significantly to the planetary    greenhouse effect. At a given time, the atmospheric CH4 level is determined by both the magnitude of its sources and its sinks. Among the    different sources, wetlands play a key-role through their weight in the global CH4 budget and their sensitivity to climate. But lots of uncertainties remain on their exact contribution, exact localization    and the underlying processes of interaction between climate and wetland CH4 emissions.
In particular, the absence of reliable estimates of CH4 emissions from tropical wetlands, as well as their spatio-temporal variations, are important factors limiting the progress in understanding the global CH4 cycle. In this project, we aim to improve the representation of tropical wetland CH4 emissions in the LPX model. This will lead to a better understanding and more accurate predictions of CH4 emissions from the Amazon basin.