Global Climate Change Increases Terrestrial Soil CH₄ Emissions

Abstract Increased greenhouse gas emissions are causing unprecedented climate change, which is, in turn, altering emissions and removals (referring to the oxidation of atmospheric CH 4 by methanotrophs within the soil) of the atmospheric CH 4 in terrestrial ecosystems. In the global CH 4 budget, wetlands are the dominant natural source and upland soils are the primary biological sink. However, it is unclear whether and how the soil CH 4 exchanges across terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere will be affected by warming and changes in precipitation patterns. Here, we synthesize 762 observations of in situ soil CH 4 flux data based on the chamber method from the past three decades related to temperature and precipitation changes across major terrestrial ecosystems worldwide. Our meta‐analysis reveals that warming (average warming of +2°C) promotes upland soil CH 4 uptake and wetland soil CH 4 emission. Decreased precipitation (ranging from −100% to −7% of local mean annual precipitation) stimulates upland soil CH 4 uptake. Increased precipitation (ranging from +4% to +94% of local mean annual precipitation) accelerates the upland soil CH 4 emission. By 2100, under the shared socioeconomic pathway with a high radiative forcing level (SSP585), CH 4 emissions from global terrestrial ecosystems will increase by 22.8 ± 3.6 Tg CH 4  yr −1 as an additional CH 4 source, which may be mainly attributed to the increase in precipitation over 30°N latitudes. Our meta‐analysis strongly suggests that future climate change would weaken the natural buffering ability of terrestrial ecosystems on CH 4 fluxes and thus contributes to a positive feedback spiral. , Plain Language Summary This study is the first investigation to include scenarios of CH 4 sink–source transition due to climate change and provides the global estimate of soil CH 4 budgets in natural terrestrial ecosystems in the context of climate change. The enhanced effect of climate change on CH 4 emissions was mainly attributed to increased CH 4 emissions from natural upland ecosystems. Although an increased CH 4 uptake by forest and grassland soils caused by increased temperature and decreased precipitation can offset some part of additional CH 4 sources, the substantial increase of increased precipitation on CH 4 emissions makes these sinks insignificant. These findings highlight that future climate change would weaken the natural buffering ability of terrestrial ecosystems on CH 4 emissions and thus form a positive feedback spiral between methane emissions and climate change. , Key Points This study is the first CH 4 budget investigation to include CH 4 sink‐source transition due to climate change Climate change is estimated to add 22.8 ± 3.6 Tg CH 4  yr −1 emission by 2100 under the high socioeconomic pathway Climate change weakens the buffering capacity of upland soils to CH 4 emissions