Global Monthly Methane Emissions by Source from 1999 to 2016

1999 to 2016 global monthly methane emissions estimates are provided at 1-degree spatial resolution, disaggregated into fossil fuel, microbial, and pyrogenic sources. The data was generated by NASA using the TM5-4DVAR inversion system, assimilating atmospheric CH4 and d13CH4 measurements. It offers a detailed 18-year record for analyzing anthropogenic and natural methane source contributions.

Use Cases

• Analyzing spatial and temporal trends in fossil fuel methane emissions using the monthly 1-degree grid data.
• Comparing the relative contributions of microbial versus pyrogenic sources to the global methane budget.
• Validating bottom-up emission inventories with top-down atmospheric inversion estimates.
• Studying interannual variability in total methane emissions across global grid cells.

Strengths

• Provides an 18-year continuous record from 1999 to 2016 for long-term trend analysis.
• Disaggregates emissions into three specific source categories (fossil, microbial, pyrogenic) at monthly resolution.
• Offers global coverage with a consistent 1-degree longitude by 1-degree latitude spatial grid.

Limitations

• Conflicting metadata exists: one platform lists a last update in 2026, while another indicates the data ends in 2016.
• Specific column names, row counts, and total dataset size are not provided by any source.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Dual tracer inversion of atmospheric CH4 and d13CH4 measurements assimilated in the TM5-4DVAR source-sink inversion system.

Time Range

1999 to 2016

Freshness

2026-03-12 20:50:48.218678

Geography

Global at 1-degree longitude x 1-degree latitude resolution