Submitted as: model description paper | 17 Oct 2020
Review status: this preprint is currently under review for the journal GMD.
WETMETH 1.0: A new wetland methane model for implementation in Earth system models
Claude-Michel Nzotungicimpaye1,Andrew H. MacDougall2,Joe R. Melton3,Claire C. Treat4,Michael Eby5,Lance F. W. Lesack1,6,and Kirsten Zickfeld1Claude-Michel Nzotungicimpaye et al.Claude-Michel Nzotungicimpaye1,Andrew H. MacDougall2,Joe R. Melton3,Claire C. Treat4,Michael Eby5,Lance F. W. Lesack1,6,and Kirsten Zickfeld1
Received: 01 Jun 2020 – Accepted for review: 08 Oct 2020 – Discussion started: 17 Oct 2020
Abstract. Wetlands are the single largest natural source of methane (CH4), a powerful greenhouse gas affecting the global climate. In turn, wetland CH4 emissions are sensitive to changes in climate conditions such as temperature and precipitation shifts. However, biogeochemical processes regulating wetland CH4 emissions (namely microbial production and oxidation of CH4) are not routinely included in fully coupled Earth system models that simulate feedbacks between the physical climate, the carbon cycle, and other biogeochemical cycles. This paper introduces a process-based wetland CH4 model (WETMETH) developed for implementation in Earth system models and currently embedded in an Earth system model of intermediate complexity. Here we: (i) describe the wetland CH4 model; (ii) evaluate the model performance against available datasets and estimates from the literature; (iii) analyze the model sensitivity to perturbations of poorly constrained parameters. Historical simulations show that WETMETH is capable of reproducing mean annual emissions consistent with present-day estimates across spatial scales. For the 2008–2017 decade the model simulates global mean wetland emissions of 158.6 Tg CH4 yr1, of which 33.1 Tg CH4 yr1 are from wetlands north of 45° N. WETMETH is highly sensitive to parameters for the microbial oxidation of CH4, which is the least constrained process in the literature.
The first version of WETMETH, a model for wetland methane emissions (WETMETH 1.0)Nzotungicimpaye, Claude-Michel; Zickfeld, Kirsten https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4066112
Claude-Michel Nzotungicimpaye et al.
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In this paper, we describe a new for wetland methane model (WETMETH) developed for use in Earth system models. WETMETH consists of simple formulations for representing methane production and oxidation in wetlands. We also presents an evaluation of the model performance as embedded in the University of Victoria Earth System Climate Model (UVic ESCM). WETMETH is capable of reproducing mean annual methane emissions consistent with present-day estimates from the regional to global scale.
In this paper, we describe a new for wetland methane model (WETMETH) developed for use in Earth...