Modeling the impact of drainage on peatland CO<sub>2</sub> and CH<sub>4</sub> fluxes and its underlying drivers

Liu, Liyang; Ciais, Philippe; Nguyen, Thu Hang; Xi, Yi; Qiu, Chunjing; Salmon, Elodie; Kalhori, Aram; Guimbaud, Christophe; Peichl, Matthias; Ratcliffe, Joshua L.; Noumonvi, Koffi Dodji; Li, Xuefei

doi:10.5194/bg-23-2277-2026

Articles | Volume 23, issue 7

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-2277-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-2277-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 23, issue 7

Research article

|

08 Apr 2026

Research article |

| 08 Apr 2026

Modeling the impact of drainage on peatland CO₂ and CH₄ fluxes and its underlying drivers

Liyang Liu, Philippe Ciais, Thu Hang Nguyen, Yi Xi, Chunjing Qiu, Elodie Salmon, Aram Kalhori, Christophe Guimbaud, Matthias Peichl, Joshua L. Ratcliffe, Koffi Dodji Noumonvi, and Xuefei Li

Data sets

Data and model code for the paper titled "Modeling the impact of drainage on peatland CO2 and CH4 fluxes and its underlying drivers" L. Liu https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19328877

Model code and software

Data and model code for the paper titled "Modeling the impact of drainage on peatland CO2 and CH4 fluxes and its underlying drivers" L. Liu https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19328877

Short summary

We simulate virtual idealized drainage at 10 pristine peatland sites. Over time, the emission factors of CO₂ flux decrease and the reduction of CH₄ emissions is amplified. The sensitivities of flux changes to drainage are primarily controlled by initial CO₂and CH₄ fluxes, initial soil carbon content, peat vegetation community, air temperature and initial water table depth. Using GWP100 (100-year Global Warming Potential), our simulation suggested only very small net GHG (greenhouse gas) emission changes when peatland is drained for 50 years.