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Full catalog/Global_Lakes_Methane_2008
Global_Lakes_Methane_2008·v1·dataset

Daily methane released from lakes worldwide

Global-Gridded Daily Methane Emissions Climatology from Lake Systems, 2003-2015
atmosphere NASA ORNL_CLOUD Level 4 netCDF-4 classic
In plain English

What it measures. Global maps of how much methane lakes release from their open water, along with lake surface area, representing typical conditions averaged over 2003 to 2015.

How it's made. Combines on-the-ground methane measurements from hundreds of lakes with satellite data on lake area and ice cover (using MERRA-2 and Landsat among other sources), gridded at a quarter-degree resolution.

How & where you'd use it. Useful for understanding lakes' role in greenhouse-gas emissions and improving estimates of natural methane sources in the carbon cycle.

What's measured

CLIMATE INDICATORS › CRYOSPHERIC INDICATORS › ICE EXTENTCLIMATE INDICATORS › BIOSPHERIC INDICATORS › PHENOLOGICAL CHANGESCLIMATE INDICATORS › LAND SURFACE/AGRICULTURE INDICATORS › LENGTH OF GROWING SEASON › FREEZE/FROST DATECLIMATE INDICATORS › PALEOCLIMATE INDICATORS › PERMAFROST/METHANE RELEASETERRESTRIAL HYDROSPHERE › SNOW/ICE › FREEZE/THAWCLIMATE INDICATORS › CARBON FLUXBIOSPHERE › ECOSYSTEMS › FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS › LAKE/POND

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2012-01-01 → 2012-12-31
  • Measured byMERRA-2 (Computer) · LANDSAT (Computer)
  • Processing levelLevel 4
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • FormatsnetCDF-4 classic
  • StatusCOMPLETE

What you can do with it

  • Map air pollutants — NO₂, aerosols, ozone
  • Track greenhouse gases and Earth's energy budget
  • Feed weather and air-quality analysis
Official description

This dataset provides global gridded information on lake surface area and open water CH4 emissions at a resolution of 0.25-degree x 0.25-degree for an annual climatology representative of the average conditions from 2003 to 2015. A compilation of flux data from 575 individual lake systems and 893 aggregated flux values were used, and each flux measurement was classified into one of seven ecoclimatic types. Ice-cover-regulated emission seasonality was derived from satellite microwave observations of ice cover phenology and freeze-thaw dynamics. Global lake area was determined from the merger of HydroLAKES and Climate Change Initiative Inland-Water (CCI-IW) remote-sensing data, and lakes were classified into ecoclimatic regions to facilitate linking these types with ecosystem-specific CH4 measurements in the flux compilation. Exploratory estimates of fluxes associated with ice melt and with spring and fall water-column turnover are also included. The data are provided in NetCDF format.

Get the data

global_lakes_methane_2008_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="Global_Lakes_Methane_2008",
    version="1",
    bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9),  # your area (W,S,E,N)
    temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"),       # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results)   # stream straight from ORNL_CLOUD
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.