El Niño, the 2006 Indonesian peat fires, and the distribution of atmospheric methane

John Worden; Zhe Jiang; Dylan B.A. Jones; Matthew Alvarado; Kevin Bowman; Christian Frankenberg; Eric A. Kort; Susan S. Kulawik; Meemong Lee; Junjie Liu; Vivienne Payne; Kevin Wecht; Helen Worden

doi:10.1002/grl.50937

El Niño, the 2006 Indonesian peat fires, and the distribution of atmospheric methane

John Worden, Zhe Jiang, Dylan B.A. Jones, Matthew Alvarado, Kevin Bowman, Christian Frankenberg, Eric A. Kort, Susan S. Kulawik, Meemong Lee, Junjie Liu, Vivienne Payne, Kevin Wecht, Helen Worden

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

34 Scopus citations

Abstract

Dry conditions from a moderate El Niño during the fall of 2006 resulted in enhanced burning in Indonesia with fire emissions of CO approximately 4-6 times larger than the prior year. Here we use new tropospheric methane and CO data from the Aura Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer and new CO profile measurements from the Terra Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) satellite instruments with the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS)-Chem model to estimate methane emissions of 4.25 ± 0.75 Tg for October-November 2006 from these fires. Errors in convective parameterization in GEOS-Chem, evaluated by comparing MOPITT and GEOS-Chem CO profiles, are the primary uncertainty of the emissions estimate. The El Niño related Indonesian fires increased the tropical distribution of atmospheric methane relative to 2005, indicating that tropical biomass burning can compensate for expected decreases in tropical wetland methane emissions from reduced rainfall during El Niño as found in previous studies.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	4938-4943
Number of pages	6
Journal	Geophysical Research Letters
Volume	40
Issue number	18
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50937
State	Published - Sep 28 2013
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

ENSO
fires
methane
remote sensing

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10.1002/grl.50937

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@article{e6d7c0c35eab4f8dabaffdfe8c16853d,

title = "El Ni{\~n}o, the 2006 Indonesian peat fires, and the distribution of atmospheric methane",

abstract = "Dry conditions from a moderate El Ni{\~n}o during the fall of 2006 resulted in enhanced burning in Indonesia with fire emissions of CO approximately 4-6 times larger than the prior year. Here we use new tropospheric methane and CO data from the Aura Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer and new CO profile measurements from the Terra Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) satellite instruments with the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS)-Chem model to estimate methane emissions of 4.25 ± 0.75 Tg for October-November 2006 from these fires. Errors in convective parameterization in GEOS-Chem, evaluated by comparing MOPITT and GEOS-Chem CO profiles, are the primary uncertainty of the emissions estimate. The El Ni{\~n}o related Indonesian fires increased the tropical distribution of atmospheric methane relative to 2005, indicating that tropical biomass burning can compensate for expected decreases in tropical wetland methane emissions from reduced rainfall during El Ni{\~n}o as found in previous studies.",

keywords = "ENSO, fires, methane, remote sensing",

author = "John Worden and Zhe Jiang and Jones, \{Dylan B.A.\} and Matthew Alvarado and Kevin Bowman and Christian Frankenberg and Kort, \{Eric A.\} and Kulawik, \{Susan S.\} and Meemong Lee and Junjie Liu and Vivienne Payne and Kevin Wecht and Helen Worden",

year = "2013",

month = sep,

day = "28",

doi = "10.1002/grl.50937",

language = "English",

volume = "40",

pages = "4938--4943",

journal = "Geophysical Research Letters",

issn = "0094-8276",

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T1 - El Niño, the 2006 Indonesian peat fires, and the distribution of atmospheric methane

AU - Worden, John

AU - Jiang, Zhe

AU - Jones, Dylan B.A.

AU - Alvarado, Matthew

AU - Bowman, Kevin

AU - Frankenberg, Christian

AU - Kort, Eric A.

AU - Kulawik, Susan S.

AU - Lee, Meemong

AU - Liu, Junjie

AU - Payne, Vivienne

AU - Wecht, Kevin

AU - Worden, Helen

PY - 2013/9/28

Y1 - 2013/9/28

N2 - Dry conditions from a moderate El Niño during the fall of 2006 resulted in enhanced burning in Indonesia with fire emissions of CO approximately 4-6 times larger than the prior year. Here we use new tropospheric methane and CO data from the Aura Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer and new CO profile measurements from the Terra Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) satellite instruments with the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS)-Chem model to estimate methane emissions of 4.25 ± 0.75 Tg for October-November 2006 from these fires. Errors in convective parameterization in GEOS-Chem, evaluated by comparing MOPITT and GEOS-Chem CO profiles, are the primary uncertainty of the emissions estimate. The El Niño related Indonesian fires increased the tropical distribution of atmospheric methane relative to 2005, indicating that tropical biomass burning can compensate for expected decreases in tropical wetland methane emissions from reduced rainfall during El Niño as found in previous studies.

AB - Dry conditions from a moderate El Niño during the fall of 2006 resulted in enhanced burning in Indonesia with fire emissions of CO approximately 4-6 times larger than the prior year. Here we use new tropospheric methane and CO data from the Aura Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer and new CO profile measurements from the Terra Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) satellite instruments with the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS)-Chem model to estimate methane emissions of 4.25 ± 0.75 Tg for October-November 2006 from these fires. Errors in convective parameterization in GEOS-Chem, evaluated by comparing MOPITT and GEOS-Chem CO profiles, are the primary uncertainty of the emissions estimate. The El Niño related Indonesian fires increased the tropical distribution of atmospheric methane relative to 2005, indicating that tropical biomass burning can compensate for expected decreases in tropical wetland methane emissions from reduced rainfall during El Niño as found in previous studies.

KW - ENSO

KW - fires

KW - methane

KW - remote sensing

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84884171678

U2 - 10.1002/grl.50937

DO - 10.1002/grl.50937

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84884171678

SN - 0094-8276

VL - 40

SP - 4938

EP - 4943

JO - Geophysical Research Letters

JF - Geophysical Research Letters

IS - 18

ER -

El Niño, the 2006 Indonesian peat fires, and the distribution of atmospheric methane

Abstract

Keywords

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