Possible influence of low latitude wetland area changes on the Holocene global atmospheric methane concentration trend

Abstract

Understanding the causes of variations in global atmospheric methane concentration (GAMC) is an important issue in the study of global climatic changes. Long-term GAMC varied rhythmically on glacial-interglacial timescales, and broadly followed the orbital/suborbital cycles in northern hemisphere solar insolation. Yet the late Holocene has witnessed an increasing GAMC trend since the mid-Holocene, which decouples with the global atmospheric CO₂ concentration trend and the northern hemisphere solar insolation trend. The causes of this decoupling have been extensively studied, but remain highly debated. Here we show that the Holocene GAMC trend closely follows the long-term trend in global low latitude wetland extent as inferred from our lake-level reconstruction and from other existing hydroclimate records. We contend that changes in low latitude wetland extent play an important role in shaping the GAMC trend. We propose that reduced low latitude wetland areas during the mid-Holocene, which were likely due to the submersion of tropical wetlands by rising sea levels, and reduced low latitude wetland areas inferred from lower lake levels, could be responsible for the observed mid-Holocene GAMC drop. Increasing global low latitude wetland areas during the late Holocene are likely responsible for the contemporary increasing GAMC trend.