Atmospheric Methane Concentrations and Source Attribution in Southeast Asian Peatlands
Nguyen, T., Tanaka, R., Lee, S., Park, J., Kim, H.. Atmospheric Methane Concentrations and Source Attribution in Southeast Asian Peatlands. LRES.
Vol.1, No.1. Jun 2025. https://doi.org/10.58923/lres.2025.0102
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Highlights
- Tropical peatlands in Southeast Asia store approximately 88 Gt of carbon and are increasingly threatened by drainage for agriculture, triggering substantial greenhouse gas emissions.
- Continuous flux measurements from 24 peatland sites across Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam over 10 years (2015-2025) reveal a 340% increase in methane emissions following land drainage.
- Isotopic analysis (δ¹³C-CH₄, δD-CH₄) attributes 67% to microbial methanogenesis with seasonal variation strongly correlated with water table depth (r²=0.89).
Abstract
Tropical peatlands in Southeast Asia store approximately 88 Gt of carbon and are increasingly threatened by drainage for agriculture, triggering substantial greenhouse gas emissions. Continuous flux measurements from 24 peatland sites across Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam over 10 years (2015-2025) reveal a 340% increase in methane emissions following land drainage. Isotopic analysis (δ¹³C-CH₄, δD-CH₄) attributes 67% to microbial methanogenesis with seasonal variation strongly correlated with water table depth (r²=0.89). Back-trajectory analysis using HYSPLIT identifies emission hotspots in Sumatra and Borneo. These results demonstrate that peatland drainage for oil palm cultivation is the dominant driver of regional methane increase, with implications for national greenhouse gas inventories.