Correlation of methane emissions with cattle population in Argentine Pampas

Satellite cartography of atmospheric methane concentrations during 2003–2004 is applied to a systematic top-down methodology to quantify large scale sources and sinks of this important greenhouse gas. Patterns of methane anomalies over South America below latitude 22 S and an assessment of the emissions from the Buenos Aires Province of Argentina are reported. The latter contains the main cattle livestock of the country together with a variety of surface conditions, both natural and man-modified, influencing methane emissions. It was found that anomalies in methane concentrations may be correlated to emission rates by a simple box accumulation-sweeping model validated by recurrent weather conditions. The model shows that the methane emission rates of the Buenos Aires Province are positively correlated with the cattle livestock corresponding to values of (190 ± 40) g d−1 per cattle head.