The geographic and seasonal emission distributions of the major sources and sinks of atmospheric methane were compiled using methane flux measurements and energy and agricultural statistics in conjunction with global digital data bases of land surface characteristics and anthropogenic activities. Chemical destruction of methane in the atmosphere was calculated using three‐dimensional OH fields every 5 days taken from Spivakovsky et al. (1990a, b). The signatures of each of the sources and sinks in the atmosphere were simulated using a global three‐dimensional tracer transport model. Candidate methane budget scenarios were constructed according to mass balance of methane and its carbon isotopes. The verisimilitude of the scenarios was tested by their ability to reproduce the meridional gradient and seasonal variations of methane observed in the atmosphere. Constraints imposed by all the atmospheric observations are satisfied simultaneously by several budget scenarios. A preferred budget comprises annual destruction rates of 450 Tg by OH oxidation and 10 Tg by soil absorption and annual emissions of 80 Tg from fossil sources, 80 Tg from domestic animals, and 35 Tg from wetlands and tundra poleward of 50°N. Emissions from landfills, tropical swamps, rice fields, biomass burning, and termites total 295 Tg; however, the individual contributions of these terms cannot be determined uniquely because of the lack of measurements of direct fluxes and of atmospheric methane variations in regions where these sources are concentrated.

A global data base of wetlands at 1° resolution has been developed from the integration of three independent global, digital sources: (1) vegetation, (2) soil properties and (3) fractional inundation in each 1° cell. The integration yielded a global distribution of wetland sites identified with in situ ecological and environmental characteristics. The wetland sites have been classed into five major wetland groups on the basis of environmental characteristics governing methane emissions. The global wetland area derived in this study is ∼5.3 × 1012m2, approximately twice the wetland area previously used in methane‐emission studies. Methane emission was calculated using methane fluxes for the major wetland groups, and simple assumptions about the duration of the methane production season. The annual methane emission from wetlands is ∼110 Tg, well within the range of previous estimates (11‐300 Tg). Tropical/subtropical peat‐poor swamps from 20°N‐30°S account from ∼30% of the global wetland area and ∼25% of the total methane emission. About 60% of the total emission comes from peat‐rich bogs concentrated from 50°‐7O°N, suggesting that the highly seasonal emission from these ecosystems is the major contributor to the large annual oscillations observed in atmospheric methane concentrations at these latitudes.

[1] Wetlands and surface waters are recognized to play important roles in climate, hydrologic and biogeochemical cycles, and availability of water resources. Until now, quantitative, global time series of spatial and temporal dynamics of inundation have been unavailable. This study presents the first global estimate of monthly inundated areas for 1993-2000. The data set is derived from a multisatellite method employing passive microwave land surface emissivities calculated from SSM/I and ISCCP observations, ERS scatterometer responses, and AVHRR visible and near-infrared reflectances. The satellite data are used to calculate inundated fractions of equal area grid cells (0.25°Â 0.25°at the equator), taking into account the contribution of vegetation to the passive microwave signal. Global inundated area varies from a maximum of 5.86 Â 10 6 km 2 (average for 1993-2000) to a mean minimum of 2.12 Â 10 6 km 2 . These values are considered consistent with existing independent, static inventories. The new multisatellite estimates also show good agreement with regional high-resolution SAR observations over the Amazon basin. The seasonal and interannual variations in inundation have been evaluated against rain rate estimates from the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) and water levels in wetlands, lakes, and rivers measured with satellite altimeters. The inundation data base is now being used for hydrology modeling and methane studies in GCMs.

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We present a description of the ModelE2 version of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) General Circulation Model (GCM) and the configurations used in the simulations performed for the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5). We use six variations related to the treatment of the atmospheric composition, the calculation of aerosol indirect effects, and ocean model component. Specifically, we test the difference between atmospheric models that have noninteractive composition, where radiatively important aerosols and ozone are prescribed from precomputed decadal averages, and interactive versions where atmospheric chemistry and aerosols are calculated given decadally varying emissions. The impact of the first aerosol indirect effect on clouds is either specified using a simple tuning, or parameterized using a cloud microphysics scheme. We also use two dynamic ocean components: the Russell and HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) which differ significantly in their basic formulations and grid. Results are presented for the climatological means over the satellite era taken from transient simulations starting from the preindustrial (1850) driven by estimates of appropriate forcings over the 20th Century. Differences in base climate and variability related to the choice of ocean model are large, indicating an important structural uncertainty. The impact of interactive atmospheric composition on the climatology is relatively small except in regions such as the lower stratosphere, where ozone plays an important role, and the tropics, where aerosol changes affect the hydrological cycle and cloud cover. While key improvements over previous versions of the model are evident, these are not uniform across all metrics.