Fighting against climate change: Methane in our atmosphere reaches record levels

Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas and the increase of atmospheric methane concentrations has accelerated significantly in recent years (IPCC, 2021). According to published studies, methane levels in the atmosphere rose slowly from 2000 to 2006 and then increased tenfold in the following decade. In recent years, the increase in atmospheric methane concentrations has further accelerated, reaching an unprecedented growth in 2020.

At the Chair we started a project to study the carbon cycle in the hyporheic zone.  The overall aim of the project is to investigate the roles of the methanogenesis and the anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) in river sediments on the impact on CH4 emission rates

Contributions to SDG

Grant

TUM

Project duration

01.12.2022 – 31.05.2025

Publications

Michaelis, T., Wunderlich, A., Orsi, O., Baumann, T., Einsiedl, F. (2023). Understanding the Methane Cycle in Riverbeds. Summer School on Energy Technology, Policy and Politics in Monte Veritá, 27.08.-01.09.2023, Ascona, Schweiz. Poster session.

Michaelis, T., Wunderlich, A., Baumann, T., Geist, J., and Einsiedl, F. (2023): Technical Note: Testing pore-water sampling, dissolved oxygen profiling and temperature monitoring for resolving dynamics in hyporheic zone geochemistry, (submitted)

Michaelis, T., Wunderlich, A., Coskun, Ö. K., Orsi, W., Baumann, T., Einsiedl, F. (2022): High-resolution vertical biogeochemical profiles in the hyporheic zone reveal insights into microbial methane cycling, Biogeosciences, 19, 4551-4569, 10.5194/bg-19-4551-2022, 2022. https://bg.copernicus.org/articles/19/4551/2022/