D. ZHU, I. Rashid, K. Walter, S. Tong, N. Bhattarai, X. Zou, S. Joshi, M. Kuhn, J. Liu, H. Jiang, H. Chen, N. Wu
Current global methane budgets overlook a key driver: elevation-regulated atmospheric pressure. Here we show that methane ebullition is more than four times higher above 3000 m than at sea level, and that this enhancement is governed by Henry's law and the ideal gas law, with theoretical predictions that agree near-perfectly with observed trends. Our findings reveal that mountain aquatic ecosystems represent unaccounted methane hotspots in global inventories.