Analysis of Methane Concentration Anomalies over Burned Areas of the Boreal and Arctic Zone of Eastern Siberia in 2018-2019 Using TROPOMI Data

摘要

Results are presented from a spatiotemporal analysis of dynamics of the methane concentrations over Yakutia in May-September 2018-2019, based on daily data from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) onboard on the Sentinel-5 satellite of the multi-satellite Copernicus environmental monitoring system (the European Union's Earth observation program) and other satellite instruments. Stable areas of increased methane concentrations are detected not only during wildfires but in postfire periods over the burned areas of earlier years, due probably to the intensification of permafrost thawing. Intraseasonal trends in the dynamics of the methane concentrations over burned-out and background areas are detected. Potential cause-effect relationship between the observed phenomena are analyzed. It is found that anomalous CH4 concentrations over newly burned areas exceed background values by 5-15 ppb in July-September 2018 and 2019 and 10-15 ppb over last year's burns from May to September.