The Methane and other greenhouse gases in the Artic - Measurements, process studies and Modelling (MAMM) project was a consortium as part of the NERC Artic Research Programme. This consortium brought a range of expertise, from measurements of methane and its isotopes, and other greenhouse gases, through flux measurements to numerical analysis and modelling.

The project was led by the University of Cambridge, and in association with the University of Manchester, University of East Anglia, Royal Holloway, University of London, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and UK and International partners (Met Office, NILU, NOAA, etc).

MAMM was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) for three and a half years from October 2011 (NERC Reference: NE/I0291161/1).

MAMM Data Providers may request access to the MAMM Project Space. All information is available under Docs below.

The Arctic is a major source of atmospheric methane and other greenhouse gases, with both natural and anthropogenic emissions. Arctic greenhouse gas sources have the potential to be important globally, changing radiative forcing and atmospheric oxidizing capacity. Moreover, both palaeorecords and present-day studies suggest some sources, such as wetlands and methane hydrates, may show strong positive feedbacks [Nisbet and Chappellaz, 2009], so that the warming feeds the warming. It is urgent that Arctic greenhouse gas sources should be quantified, by strength, geographic location, character (e.g. wetland, gasfield, clathrate), and by temporal variation (summer, winter, day, night), and their vulnerability to change assessed. We addressed these issues by an integrated program of measurement and modelling. Analysis of gas mixing ratios (concentrations), isotopic character, and source fluxes, were made both from the ground and aircraft. Both past and new measurements were modelled using a suite of techniques. Fluxes were implemented into the JULES land surface model. Atmospheric modelling, including trajectory and inverse modelling have improved understanding on the local/regional scale, placing the role of Arctic emissions in large scale global atmospheric change.