Climate of the Past www.clim-past.net 1814-9324 1814-9332 5 3 2009 10.5194/cp-5-361-2009 http://www.clim-past.net/5/361/2009/ http://www.clim-past.net/5/361/2009/cp-5-361-2009.html http://www.clim-past.net/5/361/2009/cp-5-361-2009.pdf 361 373 2009-07-21 Uncertainties in modelling CH₄ emissions from northern wetlands in glacial climates: effect of hydrological model and CH₄ model structure C. Berrittella cberri@falw.vu.nl J. van Huissteden Vrije Universiteit, VU-Amsterdam, Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Department of Hydrology and Geo-Environmental Sciences, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Methane (CH₄) fluxes from northern wetlands may have influenced atmospheric CH₄ concentrations at climate warming phases during the last 800 000 years and during the present global warming. Including these CH₄ fluxes in earth system models is essential to understand feedbacks between climate and atmospheric composition. <br><br> Attempts to model CH₄ fluxes from wetlands have previously been undertaken using various approaches. Here, we test a process-based wetland CH₄ flux model (PEATLAND-VU) which includes details of soil-atmosphere CH₄ transport. The model has been used to simulate CH₄ emissions from continental Europe in previous glacial climates and the current climate. <br><br> This paper presents results regarding the sensitivity of modeling glacial terrestrial CH₄ fluxes to (a) basic tuning parameters of the model, (b) different approaches in modeling of the water table, and (c) model structure. In order to test the model structure, PEATLAND-VU was compared to a simpler modeling approach based on wetland primary production estimated from a vegetation model (BIOME 3.5). The tuning parameters are the CH₄ production rate from labile organic carbon and its temperature sensitivity. <br><br> The modelled fluxes prove comparatively insensitive to hydrology representation, while sensitive to microbial parameters and model structure. Glacial climate emissions are also highly sensitive to assumptions about the extent of ice cover and exposed seafloor. Wetland expansion over low relief exposed seafloor areas have compensated for a decrease of wetland area due to continental ice cover. % vor jede Referenz Amorosi, A., Colalongo, M. L., Fusco, F., Pasini, G., and Fiorini, F.: Glacio-eustatic control of continental-shallow marine cyclicityfrom Late Quaternary deposits of the Southeastern Po plain, Northern Italy, Quaternary Res., 52, 1–13, 1999. Antoine, P., Rousseau, D. D., Zöller, L., Lang, A., Munaut, A. 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