Uploaded September 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
A New Global Atmospheric Methane Record Going Back 2,000 Years Obtained From Tropical Andes Ice Core
A fantastic new paper published in the very reputable scientific journal nature provides an equatorial record of methane levels in the tropics over the past 2,000 years. This record is obtained from a drill core on the top of a mountain in the Andes mountains in Peru. This new methane record is essentially the best obtained in the tropics near the equator, and is a great advancement in our knowledge of how methane has changed over the past 2,000 years for various latitudes.
This new near-equatorial tropics methane record is compared to those previously obtained at the two poles from the main ice core drilling records from Greenland and Antarctica.
Great stuff, and very important since global warming from methane is about 1/3 of the total global warming.
Please donate to PaulBeckwith.net to support my research and videos connecting the dots on abrupt climate system mayhem.
GoFundMe: gofundme.com/f/help-paul-continue-his-climate-emergency-research
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References and Links:
New Peer-Reviewed Scientific Paper in Science Journal Nature:
A global atmospheric methane record from a tropical ice core
Abstract
Tropical wetlands are widely considered the largest natural source of atmospheric
methane (CH4). However, uncertainties about wetland extent and CH4 production
have led to large variations in modelled CH4 emission trends. Most historical
reconstructions rely on data from polar ice cores, which cannot fully resolve the
tropical contribution to the CH4 budget. Here we present a 2,000-year record of
atmospheric CH4 concentrations from ice cores drilled from the South Peak summit
of Nevado Huascarán (Summit Core A, SCA; −9.122° S, −77.605° W; 6,768 m asl). We
find that the trends and magnitudes of our CH4 record are broadly consistent with
polar records. Our δ13C-CH4 measurements (from approximately 1530 CE to 1999 CE)
align with isotope values consistent with a dominant tropical CH4 source. Integration
of our record into an atmospheric four-box model suggests a sustained equatorial
dominance of CH4 source strength over the past two millennia. Our findings indicate
that equatorial CH4 emissions are higher than previous estimates based only on
polar ice core data, supporting the long-standing hypothesis that low-latitude CH4
emissions dominated pre-industrial (PI) CH4 variability. These results demonstrate
the importance of tropical ice cores on the reconstruction of CH4 variability and
latitudinal distribution.
Link to free downloadable PDF file of paper:
nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10938-1
Google Earth Map of equatorial drill site on top of glacier in Peru:
earth.google.com/web/search/Nevado+Huascar%c3%a1n/@-9.1228265,-77.60779785,6519.08790766a,1704.05344741d,35y,-62.96768013h,3.67899873t,-0r/data=CoABGlISTAolMHg5MWE5NDc4N2I2N2Q5NDRkOjB4OTJlNzYzZDMwZmQ5MDA5NhlWRbjJqD4iwCEZwABnzmZTwCoRTmV2YWRvIEh1YXNjYXLDoW4YASABIiYKJAnrJiuZZ7E_QBEwf1yop1M_QBlyEjh1CBVXQCF18SHLGfVWQEICCAE6AwoBMEICCABKDQj___________8BEAA
Google Search of: map of global ice core drilling sites
google.com/search?q=map+of+global+ice+core+drilling+sites&oq=map+of+global+ice+core+drilling+sites&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigAdIBCjExMjU3ajBqMTWoAgiwAgHxBfw4nKPcvLSt&sourceid=chrome&source=chrome.rb&ie=UTF-8
Wikipedia: List of Ice Core drill sites around the world
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ice_cores
Please donate to PaulBeckwith.net to support my research and videos connecting the dots on abrupt climate system mayhem.
GoFundMe: gofundme.com/f/help-paul-continue-his-climate-emergency-research
Please subscribe to my YouTube channel. As well as my website, and YouTube, you can find me on Patreon, Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Instagram, Reddit (multiple climate channels within), Quora, TikTok, Discord, Mastodon, Twitch, Vimeo, Bluesky, TruthSocial, Threads, Substack, Tumblr, Pinterest, etc...
A New Global Atmospheric Methane Record Going Back 2,000 Years Obtained From Tropical Andes Ice Core
A fantastic new paper published in the very reputable scientific journal nature provides an equatorial record of methane levels in the tropics over the past 2,000 years. This record is obtained from a drill core on the top of a mountain in the Andes mountains in Peru. This new methane record is essentially the best obtained in the tropics near the equator, and is a great advancement in our knowledge of how methane has changed over the past 2,000 years for various latitudes.
This new near-equatorial tropics methane record is compared to those previously obtained at the two poles from the main ice core drilling records from Greenland and Antarctica.
Great stuff, and very important since global warming from methane is about 1/3 of the total global warming.
Please donate to PaulBeckwith.net to support my research and videos connecting the dots on abrupt climate system mayhem.
GoFundMe: gofundme.com/f/help-paul-continue-his-climate-emergency-research
Please subscribe to my YouTube channel. As well as my website, and YouTube, you can find me on Patreon, Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Instagram, Reddit (multiple climate channels within), Quora, TikTok, Discord, Mastodon, Twitch, Vimeo, Bluesky, TruthSocial, Threads, Substack, Tumblr, Pinterest, etc...
References and Links:
New Peer-Reviewed Scientific Paper in Science Journal Nature:
A global atmospheric methane record from a tropical ice core
Abstract
Tropical wetlands are widely considered the largest natural source of atmospheric
methane (CH4). However, uncertainties about wetland extent and CH4 production
have led to large variations in modelled CH4 emission trends. Most historical
reconstructions rely on data from polar ice cores, which cannot fully resolve the
tropical contribution to the CH4 budget. Here we present a 2,000-year record of
atmospheric CH4 concentrations from ice cores drilled from the South Peak summit
of Nevado Huascarán (Summit Core A, SCA; −9.122° S, −77.605° W; 6,768 m asl). We
find that the trends and magnitudes of our CH4 record are broadly consistent with
polar records. Our δ13C-CH4 measurements (from approximately 1530 CE to 1999 CE)
align with isotope values consistent with a dominant tropical CH4 source. Integration
of our record into an atmospheric four-box model suggests a sustained equatorial
dominance of CH4 source strength over the past two millennia. Our findings indicate
that equatorial CH4 emissions are higher than previous estimates based only on
polar ice core data, supporting the long-standing hypothesis that low-latitude CH4
emissions dominated pre-industrial (PI) CH4 variability. These results demonstrate
the importance of tropical ice cores on the reconstruction of CH4 variability and
latitudinal distribution.
Link to free downloadable PDF file of paper:
nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10938-1
Google Earth Map of equatorial drill site on top of glacier in Peru:
earth.google.com/web/search/Nevado+Huascar%c3%a1n/@-9.1228265,-77.60779785,6519.08790766a,1704.05344741d,35y,-62.96768013h,3.67899873t,-0r/data=CoABGlISTAolMHg5MWE5NDc4N2I2N2Q5NDRkOjB4OTJlNzYzZDMwZmQ5MDA5NhlWRbjJqD4iwCEZwABnzmZTwCoRTmV2YWRvIEh1YXNjYXLDoW4YASABIiYKJAnrJiuZZ7E_QBEwf1yop1M_QBlyEjh1CBVXQCF18SHLGfVWQEICCAE6AwoBMEICCABKDQj___________8BEAA
Google Search of: map of global ice core drilling sites
google.com/search?q=map+of+global+ice+core+drilling+sites&oq=map+of+global+ice+core+drilling+sites&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigAdIBCjExMjU3ajBqMTWoAgiwAgHxBfw4nKPcvLSt&sourceid=chrome&source=chrome.rb&ie=UTF-8
Wikipedia: List of Ice Core drill sites around the world
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ice_cores
Please donate to PaulBeckwith.net to support my research and videos connecting the dots on abrupt climate system mayhem.
GoFundMe: gofundme.com/f/help-paul-continue-his-climate-emergency-research
Please subscribe to my YouTube channel. As well as my website, and YouTube, you can find me on Patreon, Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Instagram, Reddit (multiple climate channels within), Quora, TikTok, Discord, Mastodon, Twitch, Vimeo, Bluesky, TruthSocial, Threads, Substack, Tumblr, Pinterest, etc...
