Air temperature and precipitation constraining the modelled wetland methane emissions in a boreal region in northern Europe

Abstract. Wetland methane responses to temperature and precipitation are studied in a boreal wetland-rich region in northern Europe using ecosystem process models. Six ecosystem models (JSBACH-HIMMELI, LPX-Bern, LPJ-GUESS, JULES, CLM4.5, and CLM5) are compared to multi-model means of ecosystem models and atmospheric inversions from the Global Carbon Project and upscaled eddy covariance flux results for their temperature and precipitation responses and seasonal cycles of the regional fluxes. Two models with contrasting response patterns, LPX-Bern and JSBACH-HIMMELI, are used as priors in atmospheric inversions with Carbon Tracker Europe–CH4 (CTE-CH4) in order to find out how the assimilation of atmospheric concentration data changes the flux estimates and how this alters the interpretation of the flux responses to temperature and precipitation. Inversion moves wetland emissions of both models towards co-limitation by temperature and precipitation. Between 2000 and 2018, periods of high temperature and/or high precipitation often resulted in increased emissions. However, the dry summer of 2018 did not result in increased emissions despite the high temperatures. The process models show strong temperature and strong precipitation responses for the region (51 %–91 % of the variance explained by both). The month with the highest emissions varies from May to September among the models. However, multi-model means, inversions, and upscaled eddy covariance flux observations agree on the month of maximum emissions and are co-limited by temperature and precipitation. The setup of different emission components (peatland emissions, mineral land fluxes) has an important role in building up the response patterns. Considering the significant differences among the models, it is essential to pay more attention to the regional representation of wet and dry mineral soils and periodic flooding which contribute to the seasonality and magnitude of methane fluxes. The realistic representation of temperature dependence of the peat soil fluxes is also important. Furthermore, it is important to use process-based descriptions for both mineral and peat soil fluxes to simulate the flux responses to climate drivers.

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Publication Details

Journal
Biogeosciences
Published
2025-01-16
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-323-2025
Citations
9
Primary Topic
Peatlands and Wetlands Ecology
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
15.45

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article

Air temperature and precipitation constraining the modelled wetland methane emissions in a boreal region in northern Europe

Paul Miller, Antti Leppänen, Olli Peltola, Maarit Raivonen et al.
9 citations
Biogeosciences
Peatlands and Wetlands Ecology
15.45
article

Air temperature and precipitation constraining the modelled wetland methane emissions in a boreal region in northern Europe

Paul Miller, Antti Leppänen, Olli Peltola, Maarit Raivonen, Sönke Zaehle, Stefano Materia, Marielle Saunois, Tuula Aalto, Maria Tenkanen, Hanna Lee, Daniele Peano, Thomas Kleinen, Benjamin Poulter, Yao Gao, Jarmo Mäkelä, Tiina Markkanen, Jurek Müller, Vilma Mannisenaho, Eleanor Burke, Aki Tsuruta, Sarah Chadburn, David Wårlind
article en
9 citations

Abstract

Abstract. Wetland methane responses to temperature and precipitation are studied in a boreal wetland-rich region in northern Europe using ecosystem process models. Six ecosystem models (JSBACH-HIMMELI, LPX-Bern, LPJ-GUESS, JULES, CLM4.5, and CLM5) are compared to multi-model means of ecosystem models and atmospheric inversions from the Global Carbon Project and upscaled eddy covariance flux results for their temperature and precipitation responses and seasonal cycles of the regional fluxes. Two models with contrasting response patterns, LPX-Bern and JSBACH-HIMMELI, are used as priors in atmospheric inversions with Carbon Tracker Europe–CH4 (CTE-CH4) in order to find out how the assimilation of atmospheric concentration data changes the flux estimates and how this alters the interpretation of the flux responses to temperature and precipitation. Inversion moves wetland emissions of both models towards co-limitation by temperature and precipitation. Between 2000 and 2018, periods of high temperature and/or high precipitation often resulted in increased emissions. However, the dry summer of 2018 did not result in increased emissions despite the high temperatures. The process models show strong temperature and strong precipitation responses for the region (51 %–91 % of the variance explained by both). The month with the highest emissions varies from May to September among the models. However, multi-model means, inversions, and upscaled eddy covariance flux observations agree on the month of maximum emissions and are co-limited by temperature and precipitation. The setup of different emission components (peatland emissions, mineral land fluxes) has an important role in building up the response patterns. Considering the significant differences among the models, it is essential to pay more attention to the regional representation of wet and dry mineral soils and periodic flooding which contribute to the seasonality and magnitude of methane fluxes. The realistic representation of temperature dependence of the peat soil fluxes is also important. Furthermore, it is important to use process-based descriptions for both mineral and peat soil fluxes to simulate the flux responses to climate drivers.

BiogeosciencesVol. 22(1)
University of Bern (CH), Finnish Meteorological Institute (FI), Met Office (GB), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (CH), University of Helsinki (FI), Lund University (SE), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (FR), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NO), University of Exeter (GB), Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (FR), Université Paris-Saclay (FR), Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research (NO), Natural Resources Institute Finland (FI), NORCE Research AS (NO), CMCC Foundation - Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (IT), Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (FR), CEA Paris-Saclay (FR), Laboratoire de Mesure du Carbone 14 (FR), CSC - IT Center for Science (Finland) (FI), Science Research Laboratory (US), Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry (DE), Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (DE)
U.S. Department of Energy, European Space Agency, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, China Scholarship Council, Biological and Environmental Research
Openalex Percentile: Top 1%
Peatlands and Wetlands Ecology
15.45
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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