The response of atmospheric methane concentrations to meteorological forcings of wetland distribution and extent

Both wetland extent and distribution across the globe are estimated on seasonal and inter-annual timescales in the Simple Biosphere Model. The method is presented and the results are compared with estimates of inundated extent from remote sensing. A model of methane production and consumption is parameterized with data from eddy-covariance measurements of surface methane exchange. Scaled by modeled wetland areas, global patterns of methane emission from wetlands are produced. Modeled methane emissions, along with EDGAR inventories of anthropogenic methane emissions and GFED estimates of methane emissions from biomass burning, drive the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model; producing estimates of atmospheric methane concentrations.