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Scaling tropical wetland methane fluxes regionally and globally

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By John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis November 7, 2024

Wetlands purify water and remove atmospheric carbon dioxide but emit the greenhouse gas methane. Tropical wetlands are both one of the largest natural sources of methane and one of the least studied and understood ecosystems on earth.

Wetlands purify water and remove atmospheric carbon dioxide but emit the greenhouse gas methane. Tropical wetlands are both one of the largest natural sources of methane and one of the least studied and understood ecosystems on earth. Scientists expect tropical methane emissions to rise as warming temperatures boost the growth of methane-emitting microbes. Determining if and when this increase will occur—may already be occurring—requires a baseline, a global synthesis of tropical methane emissions and their predictors that is the goal of this project.

Principal Investigators

Robert Jackson (Stanford University)

Sara Knox (McGill University)

Lisamarie Windham-Myers (USGS Water Mission Area)

Alison Hoyt (Stanford University)

Wetlands purify water and remove atmospheric carbon dioxide but emit the greenhouse gas methane. Tropical wetlands are both one of the largest natural sources of methane and one of the least studied and understood ecosystems on earth.

Wetlands purify water and remove atmospheric carbon dioxide but emit the greenhouse gas methane. Tropical wetlands are both one of the largest natural sources of methane and one of the least studied and understood ecosystems on earth. Scientists expect tropical methane emissions to rise as warming temperatures boost the growth of methane-emitting microbes. Determining if and when this increase will occur—may already be occurring—requires a baseline, a global synthesis of tropical methane emissions and their predictors that is the goal of this project.

Principal Investigators

Robert Jackson (Stanford University)

Sara Knox (McGill University)

Lisamarie Windham-Myers (USGS Water Mission Area)

Alison Hoyt (Stanford University)

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