Global Soil Methane Uptake Estimated by Scaling Up Local Measurements

Jiawei Jiang; Zhifeng Yan; Jinshi Jian; Shushi Peng; Hanqin Tian; Kendalynn A. Morris; Robert M. Ellam; Jesper Riis Christiansen; Huai Chen; Jianzhi Dong; Si Liang Li; Pingqing Fu; Dabo Guan; Guirui Yu; Cong-Qiang Liu; Philippe Ciais; Ben Bond-Lamberty

doi:10.1111/gcb.70194

Global Soil Methane Uptake Estimated by Scaling Up Local Measurements

Jiawei Jiang, Zhifeng Yan^*, Jinshi Jian, Shushi Peng, Hanqin Tian, Kendalynn A. Morris, Robert M. Ellam, Jesper Riis Christiansen, Huai Chen, Jianzhi Dong, Si Liang Li, Pingqing Fu, Dabo Guan, Guirui Yu, Cong-Qiang Liu, Philippe Ciais, Ben Bond-Lamberty

^*Corresponding author for this work

Forest and Landscape Ecology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Abstract

Aerobic soils remove methane from the atmosphere, but global soil methane uptake (SMU) estimates remain highly uncertain due to challenges in scaling local data. We develop a data-driven approach to refine this global estimate by incorporating local data of 79,800 flux measurements from 198 sites. This novel approach links the global SMU budget to local SMU fluxes by varying its parameters with soil properties. Our 2003–2018 global SMU estimate is ~39.0 Tg CH₄ year⁻¹—about 30% higher than existing bottom-up estimates and consistent with top-down assessments. Cold grasslands and deserts were found to contribute nearly 30% of the total SMU, while disturbed agricultural biomes have the lowest SMU. The projected future global SMU is shaped by temperature and atmospheric methane, though local SMU is primarily influenced by changes in soil moisture. This study emphasizes the potential of soils in climate regulation and highlights the need to focus on key biomes for a better understanding of the soil-atmosphere methane feedback and optimizing methane management strategies.

Original language	English
Article number	e70194
Journal	Global Change Biology
Volume	31
Issue number	4
Number of pages	13
ISSN	1354-1013
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70194
Publication status	Published - 2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Keywords

data-driven approach
local variation
methane cycling
scaling up
soil methane uptake
soil moisture

Access to Document

10.1111/gcb.70194

Cite this

@article{ca2ce8ccdd23467ba0da19d928017ed8,

title = "Global Soil Methane Uptake Estimated by Scaling Up Local Measurements",

abstract = "Aerobic soils remove methane from the atmosphere, but global soil methane uptake (SMU) estimates remain highly uncertain due to challenges in scaling local data. We develop a data-driven approach to refine this global estimate by incorporating local data of 79,800 flux measurements from 198 sites. This novel approach links the global SMU budget to local SMU fluxes by varying its parameters with soil properties. Our 2003–2018 global SMU estimate is ~39.0 Tg CH4 year−1—about 30% higher than existing bottom-up estimates and consistent with top-down assessments. Cold grasslands and deserts were found to contribute nearly 30% of the total SMU, while disturbed agricultural biomes have the lowest SMU. The projected future global SMU is shaped by temperature and atmospheric methane, though local SMU is primarily influenced by changes in soil moisture. This study emphasizes the potential of soils in climate regulation and highlights the need to focus on key biomes for a better understanding of the soil-atmosphere methane feedback and optimizing methane management strategies.",

keywords = "data-driven approach, local variation, methane cycling, scaling up, soil methane uptake, soil moisture",

author = "Jiawei Jiang and Zhifeng Yan and Jinshi Jian and Shushi Peng and Hanqin Tian and Morris, {Kendalynn A.} and Ellam, {Robert M.} and Christiansen, {Jesper Riis} and Huai Chen and Jianzhi Dong and Li, {Si Liang} and Pingqing Fu and Dabo Guan and Guirui Yu and Cong-Qiang Liu and Philippe Ciais and Ben Bond-Lamberty",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2025 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.",

year = "2025",

doi = "10.1111/gcb.70194",

language = "English",

volume = "31",

journal = "Global Change Biology",

issn = "1354-1013",

publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell",

number = "4",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Global Soil Methane Uptake Estimated by Scaling Up Local Measurements

AU - Jiang, Jiawei

AU - Yan, Zhifeng

AU - Jian, Jinshi

AU - Peng, Shushi

AU - Tian, Hanqin

AU - Morris, Kendalynn A.

AU - Ellam, Robert M.

AU - Christiansen, Jesper Riis

AU - Chen, Huai

AU - Dong, Jianzhi

AU - Li, Si Liang

AU - Fu, Pingqing

AU - Guan, Dabo

AU - Yu, Guirui

AU - Liu, Cong-Qiang

AU - Ciais, Philippe

AU - Bond-Lamberty, Ben

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - Aerobic soils remove methane from the atmosphere, but global soil methane uptake (SMU) estimates remain highly uncertain due to challenges in scaling local data. We develop a data-driven approach to refine this global estimate by incorporating local data of 79,800 flux measurements from 198 sites. This novel approach links the global SMU budget to local SMU fluxes by varying its parameters with soil properties. Our 2003–2018 global SMU estimate is ~39.0 Tg CH4 year−1—about 30% higher than existing bottom-up estimates and consistent with top-down assessments. Cold grasslands and deserts were found to contribute nearly 30% of the total SMU, while disturbed agricultural biomes have the lowest SMU. The projected future global SMU is shaped by temperature and atmospheric methane, though local SMU is primarily influenced by changes in soil moisture. This study emphasizes the potential of soils in climate regulation and highlights the need to focus on key biomes for a better understanding of the soil-atmosphere methane feedback and optimizing methane management strategies.

AB - Aerobic soils remove methane from the atmosphere, but global soil methane uptake (SMU) estimates remain highly uncertain due to challenges in scaling local data. We develop a data-driven approach to refine this global estimate by incorporating local data of 79,800 flux measurements from 198 sites. This novel approach links the global SMU budget to local SMU fluxes by varying its parameters with soil properties. Our 2003–2018 global SMU estimate is ~39.0 Tg CH4 year−1—about 30% higher than existing bottom-up estimates and consistent with top-down assessments. Cold grasslands and deserts were found to contribute nearly 30% of the total SMU, while disturbed agricultural biomes have the lowest SMU. The projected future global SMU is shaped by temperature and atmospheric methane, though local SMU is primarily influenced by changes in soil moisture. This study emphasizes the potential of soils in climate regulation and highlights the need to focus on key biomes for a better understanding of the soil-atmosphere methane feedback and optimizing methane management strategies.

KW - data-driven approach

KW - local variation

KW - methane cycling

KW - scaling up

KW - soil methane uptake

KW - soil moisture

U2 - 10.1111/gcb.70194

DO - 10.1111/gcb.70194

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 40276869

AN - SCOPUS:105003804844

SN - 1354-1013

VL - 31

JO - Global Change Biology

JF - Global Change Biology

IS - 4

M1 - e70194

ER -