Abstract. Wetlands are the largest natural source of atmospheric methane (CH4), yet comprehensive global budgets are typically delayed by several years, preventing a timely understanding of CH4 sources, sinks, and their trends. To reduce this delay, we present a model emulator-driven framework and accompanying workflow that enable timely, continuous emission updates and applying the framework to a global dataset of natural vegetated wetland CH4 emissions to extend the most recent Global Methane Budget (GMB; Saunois et al., 2025) record through 2025 at monthly 1°x1° resolution. We developed a machine-learning emulator to reconstruct spatially explicit monthly emission fields (global R2 =0.65 ± 0.003 (mean ± 95 % CI, hereafter) and RMSE=5.49 ± 0.12 ×10-3 Tg CH4/year in test data which is ~30 % of the total data). The emulator is trained on 35 GMB model estimates (22 process-based model estimates and 13 atmospheric inversion estimates) paired with 10 ensemble realizations of 11 gridded climate predictor variables from atmospheric reanalyses. While the global mean predicted wetland CH4 emissions for 2021–2025 (157.83 ± 2.38 Tg CH4/year) are only marginally higher (~0.05 Tg CH4/year) than the 2000–2020 baseline, this stability masks a significant hemispheric redistribution of emissions. We detect a surge in Northern Hemisphere emissions in 2021–2025, with mid- and high-latitudes increasing by 0.76 ± 0.07 (z-score: 2.21) and 0.35 ± 0.03 Tg/year (z-score:1.01), respectively, while the tropics and Southern Hemisphere extratropics show offsetting negative trends (-0.95 ± 0.19 and -0.11 ± 0.02 Tg/year with z-scores of -2.81 and -0.34, respectively). The predicted emissions capture the low emissions in 2023 in South America linked to El Niño-related drought, as reported by recent studies (Ciais et al., 2026; Quinn et al., 2025). Post-2020 growth rates of emission anomalies are a magnitude higher than that in 2000–2025, suggesting an intensification of emission variability. Furthermore, we identify a distinct seasonal amplification of global emission growth peaking in late boreal summer. This new dataset and operational framework bridge the gap between latest updated budgets and low-latency monitoring, providing a scalable capacity to frequently update global emission estimates and critical early warnings of regional wetland feedback loops. The data are publicly available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18870108 (Li et al., 2026).

The extent and distribution of tropical peatlands, and their importance as a vulnerable carbon (C) store, remain poorly quantified. Although large peatland complexes in Peru, the Congo basin, and Southeast Asia have been mapped in detail, information on many other tropical areas is uncertain. In the Eastern Colombian lowlands, peatland area estimates range from 700 km 2 to nearly 60,000 km 2 , leading to highly uncertain C stocks. Using new field data, high‐resolution Earth observation (EO), and a random forest approach, we mapped peatlands across Colombian territory East of the Andes below 400 m elevation. We estimated peatland extent using two approaches: a conservative method focused on medium‐to‐high peat probability areas and a more inclusive one accounting for large low‐probability areas. Multiplying these extents by below‐ground carbon density yields a conservative estimate of 0.95 (0.6–1.39 Pg C, 95% confidence interval) over 9,391 km 2 (7,369–11,549 km 2 ) and up to 2.86 Pg C (1.76–4.22 Pg C) across 29,069 km 2 (22,429–36,238 km 2 ). Among four potentially peat‐forming ecosystems identified, palm swamps and floodplain forests contributed most to the peat extent and C stock. We found that most peatland patches were relatively small, covering less than 100 ha. We compared our map to previously published global and pan‐tropical peat maps and found low spatial overlap among them, suggesting that peat maps uninformed by local field information may not precisely specify which landscape areas within a peatland‐rich region are actually peatlands. We further assessed the suitability of different EO and climate variables, highlighting the need for high‐resolution data to capture local heterogeneities in the landscape.

Peatlands are some of the world’s most carbon-dense ecosystems and release substantial quantities of greenhouse gases when degraded. However, conserving peatlands in many tropical areas is challenging due to limited knowledge of their distribution. To address this, we surveyed soils and plant communities in Colombia’s eastern lowlands, where few peatlands have previously been described. We documented peat soils >40 cm thick at 51 of more than 100 surveyed wetlands. We use our data to update a regional peatland classification, which includes a new and possibly widespread peatland type, ‘the white-sand peatland,’ as well as two distinctive open-canopy sub-types. Analysis of peat bulk density and organic matter content from 39 intact peat cores indicates that the average per-area carbon densities of these sites (490–1230 Mg C ha ^−1 , depending on type) is 4–10 times the typical carbon stock of a (non-peatland) Amazonian forest. We used remote sensing to upscale our observations, generating the first data-driven peatland map for the region. The total estimated carbon stock of these peatlands of 1.91 petagrams (Pg C) (2-sigma confidence interval, 0.60–4.22) approaches that of South America’s largest known peatland complex in the northern Peruvian Amazon, indicating that substantial peat carbon stores on the continent have yet to be documented. These observations indicate that tropical peatlands may be far more diverse in form and structure and broadly distributed than is widely understood, which could have important implications for tropical peatland conservation strategies.

Lahan gambut di Indonesia seluas 13,4 juta hektar, dan sekitar 60% degradasi akibat drainase untuk pembangunan pertanian dan hutan tanaman industri. Pembangunan sekat kanal merupakan salah satu solusi untuk mengatasi masalah ini. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis dampak sekat kanal terhadap beberapa sifat fisika dan kimia air saluran drainase sebelum dan setelah sekat kanal. Penelitian dilakukan pada lima sekat kanal di desa Rasau Jaya Umum, Kabupaten Kubu Raya, Provinsi Kalimantan Barat. Metode yang digunakan meliputi survei lapangan, pengambilan dan analisis sampel air. Untuk menganalisis perbedaan beberapa sifat fisika dan kimia sebelum dan setelah sekat kanal. Dilakukan Uji T dengan program Real Statistics. Penyebaran data hasil pengukuran ditampilkan dengan diagram kotak (boxplot). Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa setelah sekat kanal temperature lebih tinggi yaitu 31,28˚C ± 3,00 dibandingkan sebelum sekat kanal 29,54˚C ± 0,93 dan pH air setelah sekat kanal 3,91 ± 0,28 dibandingkan sebelum sekat kanal 3,63 ± 0,18, namun kadar oksigen terlarut setelah sekat kanal lebih rendah yaitu 0,86 mg/l ± 0,37 dibandingkan sebelum sekat kanal 1,25 ± 0,71. Kedalaman air saluran menunjukkan penurunan yang signifikan setelah sekat kanal yaitu 25,20 cm ± 8,32 sedangkan sebelum sekat kanal 49,70 cm ± 11,37. (p sebesar 0,000) menunjukkan bahwa perbedaan ini signifikan secara statistik, yang berarti sekat kanal berpengaruh terhadap kedalaman air saluran. Kedalaman muka air tanah (water level height) menunjukkan penurunan setelah sekat kanal yaitu 30,50 cm dengan standar deviasi 11,63 sedangkan sebelum sekat kanal 36,15 cm dengan standar deviasi 10,99, namun p-value yang lebih besar dari 0,05 (0,093) menunjukkan bahwa perbedaan ini tidak signifikan secara statistik. Konsentrasi besi terlarut lebih rendah setelah sekat kanal yaitu 9,68µM ± 2,66 dibandingkan sebelum sekat kanal, yaitu 13,20µM ± 1,47, yang menunjukkan kondisi oksidatif yang lebih dominan. Sementara itu, karbon organik terlarut (DOC) tidak menunjukkan perbedaan signifikan, meskipun rerata nilai DOC sedikit lebih tinggi sebelum sekat kanal. Temuan ini menunjukkan sekat kanal menyebabkan akumulasi Fe, yang berpengaruh terhadap perombakan bahan organik menjadi emisi gas rumah kaca.

Trees are recently understood to emit large quantities of CH4 through their stems, particularly in tropical wetland environments. There are still large uncertainties of the processes driving tree CH4 emissions, however, the primary mechanism is thought to be through transfer of CH4 produced in soil into tree biomass and then to the atmosphere. Another possible mechanism is via anaerobic decomposition of rotting tree biomass in stems. In the Brazilian Amazon, very little is known about sources and variability of tree CH4 emissions and how they may vary across different flooded regions. Across regions of the Amazon we aim to understand the variation of CH4 emissions from trees. These regions are characterised as white water flooded forest (Várzea region) and black water flooded forest (Igapo region). Using two tree species of similar ages across two regions, we measured tree CH4 emissions and surrounding porewater CH4 concentrations for two flooded seasons. Across all study locations and tree species we found large but variable net CH4 emissions ranging from 0.01 to 84 mg m-2 hr-1. These variations in emissions are significantly influenced by the tree species. Furthermore, we measured significantly different fluxes when measuring the same tree species across two regions, suggesting there could be vast alterations in flux when attempting to measure emissions across the Amazon region. Our work also revealed that CH4 emission was highest at the base of trees (30 cm) compared to measurements made higher up the stem (70 cm). This is consistent with radial diffusion of soil derived CH4 up the stem and also stongly suggests the source of CH4 is soil derived. Porewater concentrations of CH4 throughout the soil column further supports tree CH4 emission deriving from soil. Furthermore, we analysed the stable isotopic carbon values of emitted CH4 and demonstrate that this vertical reduction in emitted CH4 is also in part a product of biological oxidation of CH4 by methanotrophic bacteria located in woody material. The isotopic profile varied between two tree species and at the base of the tree compared with higher up the stem. We also noted individual tree species had isotopic variability across the two sites. These results show significant CH4 emissions from trees to atmosphere in the Amazon. By using common tree species of similar ages we demonstrate that the strength and variability of these emissions are strongly influenced by site specific variables that require further investigation.

Tropical peatlands play an important role in global carbon (C) cycling, but little is known about factors driving carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) emissions from these ecosystems, especially production in deeper soils. This study aimed to identify source material and processes regulating C emissions originating deep in three sites in a peatland on the Caribbean coast of Panama. We hypothesized that (1) surface-derived organic matter transported down the soil profile is the primary C source for respiration products at depth and that (2) high lignin content results in hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis as the dominant CH4 production pathway throughout the profile. We used radiocarbon isotopic values to determine whether CO2 and CH4 at depth are produced from modern substrates or ancient deep peat, and we used stable C isotopes to identify the dominant CH4 production pathway. Peat organic chemistry was characterized using 13C solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (13C-NMR). We found that deep peat respiration products had radiocarbon signatures that were more similar to surface dissolved organic C (DOC) than deep solid peat. These results indicate that surface-derived organic matter was the dominant source for gas production at depth in this peatland, likely because of vertical transport of DOC from the surface to depth. Lignin, which was the most abundant compound (55 %–70 % of C), increased with depth across these sites, whereas other C compounds like carbohydrates did not vary with depth. These results suggest that there is no preferential decomposition of carbohydrates but instead preferential retention of lignin. Stable isotope signatures of respiration products indicated that hydrogenotrophic rather than acetoclastic methanogenesis was the dominant production pathway of CH4 throughout the peat profile. These results show that deep C in tropical peatlands does not contribute greatly to surface fluxes of carbon dioxide, with compounds like lignin preferentially retained. This protection of deep C helps explain how peatland C is retained over thousands of years and points to the vulnerability of this C should anaerobic conditions in these wet ecosystems change.

Methane is transported from wetlands by a variety of physical processes through a variety of pathways: ebullition (the formation of bubbles that rise to the surface), flushing (advection by pore water flowing into streams), and diffusion (both into plant roots and out through the surface). We have formulated a theory that couples ebullition, diffusion, and flushing, and predicts how the competition between these processes leads to different porewater concentrations of dissolved gases and their isotopes. We apply the theory to explain why ebullition creates much higher concentrations of carbon dioxide and much different ratios of carbon-13 in both methane and carbon dioxide and then we use these results to explain the oberserved differences in carbon dioxide and methane concentrations and their isotope ratios between northern and southern wetlands. Implications of the theory also include: (1) Carbon isotope ratios in methane and carbon dioxide depend not only on the fractionation factor in methanogenesis but also on the magnitude of ebullition relative to advection. (2) Counterintuitively, higher methane concentrations in pore water occur at lower rates of methanogenesis, for all else held constant. (3) Pore water gas concentrations can be used to infer historical rates of ebullition.

AbstractTropical wetlands and freshwaters are major contributors to the growing atmospheric methane (CH4) burden. Extensive peatland drainage has lowered CH4 emissions from peat soils in Southeast Asia, but the canals draining these peatlands may be hotspots of CH4 emissions. Alternatively, CH4 oxidation (consumption) by methanotrophic microorganisms may attenuate emissions. Here, we used laboratory experiments and a synoptic survey of the isotopic composition of CH4 in 34 canals across West Kalimantan, Indonesia to quantify the proportion of CH4 that is consumed and therefore not emitted to the atmosphere. We find that CH4 oxidation mitigates 76.4 ± 12.0% of potential canal emissions, reducing emissions by ~70 mg CH4 m−2 d−1. Methane consumption also significantly impacts the stable isotopic fingerprint of canal CH4 emissions. As canals drain over 65% of peatlands in Southeast Asia, our results suggest that CH4 oxidation significantly influences landscape-scale CH4 emissions from these ecosystems.

Global wetlands are the largest and most uncertain natural source of atmospheric methane (CH4). The FLUXNET-CH4 synthesis initiative has established a global network of flux tower infrastructure, offering valuable data products and fostering a dedicated community for the measurement and analysis of methane flux data. Existing studies using the FLUXNET-CH4 Community Product v1.0 have provided invaluable insights into the drivers of ecosystem-to-regional spatial patterns and daily-to-decadal temporal dynamics in temperate, boreal, and Arctic climate regions. However, as the wetland CH4 monitoring network grows, there is a critical knowledge gap about where new monitoring infrastructure ought to be located to improve understanding of the global wetland CH4 budget. Here we address this gap with a spatial representativeness analysis at existing and hypothetical observation sites, using 16 process-based wetland biogeochemistry models and machine learning. We find that, in addition to eddy covariance monitoring sites, existing chamber sites are important complements, especially over high latitudes and the tropics. Furthermore, expanding the current monitoring network for wetland CH4 emissions should prioritize, first, tropical and second, sub-tropical semi-arid wetland regions. Considering those new hypothetical wetland sites from tropical and semi-arid climate zones could significantly improve global estimates of wetland CH4 emissions and reduce bias by 79% (from 76 to 16 TgCH(4) y(-1)), compared with using solely existing monitoring networks. Our study thus demonstrates an approach for long-term strategic expansion of flux observations.

Water-logged peatlands store tremendous amounts of soil carbon (C) globally, accumulating C over millennia. As peatlands become disturbed by human activity, these long-term C stores are getting destabilized and ultimately released as greenhouse gases that may exacerbate climate change. Oxidation of the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) mobilized from disturbed soils to streams and canals may be one avenue for the transfer of previously stored, millennia-aged C to the atmosphere. However, it remains unknown whether aged peat-derived DOC undergoes oxidation to carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) following disturbance. Here, we use a new approach to measure the radiocarbon content of CO 2 produced from the oxidation of DOC in canals overlying peatland soils that have undergone widespread disturbance in Indonesia. This work shows for the first time that aged DOC mobilized from drained and burned peatland soils is susceptible to oxidation by both microbial respiration and photomineralization over aquatic travel times for DOC. The bulk radiocarbon age of CO 2 produced during canal oxidation ranged from modern to ~1300 years before present. These ages for CO 2 were most strongly influenced by canal water depth, which was proportional to the water table level where DOC is mobilized from disturbed soils to canals. Canal microbes preferentially respired older or younger organic C pools to CO 2 , and this may have been facilitated by the use of a small particulate organic C pool over the dissolved pool. Given that high densities of canals are generally associated with lower water tables and higher fire risk, our findings suggest that peatland areas with high canal density may be a hotspot for the loss of aged C on the landscape. Taken together, the results of this study show how and why aquatic processing of organic C on the landscape can enhance the transfer of long-term peat C stores to the atmosphere following disturbance.

Given the importance of soil for the global carbon cycle, it is essential to understand not only how much carbon soil stores but also how long this carbon persists. Previous studies have shown that the amount and age of soil carbon are strongly affected by the interaction of climate, vegetation, and mineralogy. However, these findings are primarily based on studies from temperate regions and from fine-scale studies, leaving large knowledge gaps for soils from understudied regions such as sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, there is a lack of data to validate modeled soil C dynamics at broad scales. Here, we present insights into organic carbon cycling, based on a new broad-scale radiocarbon and mineral dataset for sub-Saharan Africa. We found that in moderately weathered soils in seasonal climate zones with poorly crystalline and reactive clay minerals, organic carbon persists longer on average (topsoil: 201 ± 130 years; subsoil: 645 ± 385 years) than in highly weathered soils in humid regions (topsoil: 140 ± 46 years; subsoil: 454 ± 247 years) with less reactive minerals. Soils in arid climate zones (topsoil: 396 ± 339 years; subsoil: 963 ± 669 years) store organic carbon for periods more similar to those in seasonal climate zones, likely reflecting climatic constraints on weathering, carbon inputs and microbial decomposition. These insights into the timescales of organic carbon persistence in soils of sub-Saharan Africa suggest that a process-oriented grouping of soils based on pedo-climatic conditions may be useful to improve predictions of soil responses to climate change at broader scales.

One of the largest uncertainties in the terrestrial carbon cycle is the timing and magnitude of soil organic carbon (SOC) response to climate and vegetation change. This uncertainty prevents models from adequately capturing SOC dynamics and challenges the assessment of management and climate change effects on soils. Reducing these uncertainties requires simultaneous investigation of factors controlling the amount (SOC abundance) and duration (SOC persistence) of stored C. We present a global synthesis of SOC and radiocarbon profiles (n Profile  = 597) to assess the timescales of SOC storage. We use a combination of statistical and depth-resolved compartment models to explore key factors controlling the relationships between SOC abundance and persistence across pedo-climatic regions and with soil depth. This allows us to better understand (i) how SOC abundance and persistence covary across pedo-climatic regions and (ii) how the depth dependence of SOC dynamics relates to climatic and mineralogical controls on SOC abundance and persistence. We show that SOC abundance and persistence are differently related; the controls on these relationships differ substantially between major pedo-climatic regions and soil depth. For example, large amounts of persistent SOC can reflect climatic constraints on soils (e.g., in tundra/polar regions) or mineral absorption, reflected in slower decomposition and vertical transport rates. In contrast, lower SOC abundance can be found with lower SOC persistence (e.g., in highly weathered tropical soils) or higher SOC persistence (e.g., in drier and less productive regions). We relate variable patterns of SOC abundance and persistence to differences in the processes constraining plant C input, microbial decomposition, vertical C transport and mineral SOC stabilization potential. This process-oriented grouping of SOC abundance and persistence provides a valuable benchmark for global C models, highlighting that pedo-climatic boundary conditions are crucial for predicting the effects of climate change and soil management on future C abundance and persistence.

Wetland methane (CH 4 ) emissions over the Boreal–Arctic region are vulnerable to climate change and linked to climate feedbacks, yet understanding of their long-term dynamics remains uncertain. Here, we upscaled and analysed two decades (2002–2021) of Boreal–Arctic wetland CH 4 emissions, representing an unprecedented compilation of eddy covariance and chamber observations. We found a robust increasing trend of CH 4 emissions (+8.9%) with strong inter-annual variability. The majority of emission increases occurred in early summer (June and July) and were mainly driven by warming (52.3%) and ecosystem productivity (40.7%). Moreover, a 2 °C temperature anomaly in 2016 led to the highest recorded annual CH 4 emissions (22.3 Tg CH 4 yr −1 ) over this region, driven primarily by high emissions over Western Siberian lowlands. However, current-generation models from the Global Carbon Project failed to capture the emission magnitude and trend, and may bias the estimates in future wetland CH 4 emission driven by amplified Boreal–Arctic warming and greening.

For decades, tropical peatlands in Indonesia have been deforested and converted to other land uses, mainly oil palm plantations which now cover one-fourth of the degraded peatland area. Given that the capacity for peatland ecosystems to store carbon depends largely on hydrology, there is a growing interest in rewetting degraded peatlands to shift them back to a carbon sink. Recent estimates suggest that peatland rewetting may contribute up to 13 % of Indonesia's total mitigation potential from natural climate solutions. In this study, we measured CO2 2 and CH4 4 fluxes, soil temperature, and water table level (WTL) for drained oil palm plantations, rewetted oil palm plantations, and secondary forests located in the Mempawah and Kubu Raya Regencies of West Kalimantan, Indonesia. We found that peatland rewetting significantly reduced peat CO2 2 emissions, though CH4 4 uptake was not significantly different in rewetted peatland compared to drained peatland. Rewetting drained peatlands on oil palm plantations reduced heterotrophic respiration by 34 % and total respiration by 20 %. Our results suggest that rewetting drained oil palm plantations will not achieve low CO2 2 emissions as observed in secondary forests due to differences in vegetation or land management. However, extrapolating our results to the areas of degraded oil palm plantations in West Kalimantan suggests that successful peatland rewetting could still reduce emissions by 3.9 MtCO2 2 yr-- 1 . This result confirms that rewetting oil palm plantations in tropical peatlands is an effective natural climate solution for achieving national emission reduction targets.

Southeast Asian peatlands cover 0.2% of Earth’s land surface, but store one-tenth of all peat soil carbon globally. Recent deforestation and drainage have destabilized these carbon stores, increasing carbon inputs to aquatic and atmospheric reservoirs. Here we investigate the impact of anthropogenic disturbance on the aquatic fate of peat dissolved organic carbon (DOC) within networks of drainage canals overlying disturbed peatlands. We measured microbial respiration rates alongside photochemical mineralization of DOC for canal waters collected across West Kalimantan, Indonesia, and found that both pathways lead to rapid DOC oxidation to carbon dioxide in the water column. Carrying out a systematic assessment of the controls on peat DOC processing, we identify key variables needed to predict daily rates and show that DOC oxidation may range from 15 to 310 mgC m −2 d −1 in drainage canals across Southeast Asia, depending on the water chemistry, hydrology and meteorology on any given day. DOC oxidation averaged 70 mgC m −2 d −1 under typical conditions, indicating that this process may reduce canal export of peat DOC by ~35%. Findings from this study demonstrate that drainage canal networks are a hotspot for terrestrial carbon loss following land disturbance and strongly regulate aquatic loss of peat carbon across the landscape.

Carbon (C) in soils persists on a range of timescales depending on physical, chemical, and biological processes that interact with soil organic matter (SOM) and affect its rate of decomposition. Together these processes determine the age distribution of soil C. Most attempts to measure this age distribution have relied on operationally defined fractions using properties like density, aggregate stability, solubility, or chemical reactivity. Recently, thermal fractionation, which relies on the activation energy needed to combust SOM, has shown promise for separating young from old C by applying increasing heat to decompose SOM. Here, we investigated radiocarbon (C-14) and C-13 of C released during thermal fractionation to link activation energy to the age distribution of C in bulk soil and components previously separated by density and chemical properties. While physically and chemically isolated fractions had very distinct mean C-14 values, they contributed C across the full temperature range during thermal analysis. Thus, each thermal fraction collected during combustion of bulk soil integrates contributions from younger and older C derived from components having different physical and chemical properties but the same activation energy. Bulk soil and all density and chemical fractions released progressively older and more C-13-enriched C with increasing activation energy, indicating that each operationally defined fraction itself was not homogeneous but contained a mix of C with different ages and degrees of microbial processing. Overall, we found that defining the full age distribution of C in bulk soil is best quantified by first separating particulate C prior to thermal fractionation of mineral-associated SOM. For the Podzol analyzed here, thermal fractions confirmed that similar to 95 % of the mineral-associated organic matter (MOM) had a relatively narrow C-14 distribution, while 5 % was very low in C-14 and likely reflected C from the < 2 mm parent shale material in the soil matrix. After first removing particulate C using density or size separation, thermal fractionation can provide a rapid technique to study the age structure of MOM and how it is influenced by different OM-mineral interactions.

Most peat domes in Southeast Asia are crisscrossed by networks of drainage canals. These canals are a potentially important source of methane to the atmosphere because the groundwater that discharges into them carries high concentrations of dissolved methane that is produced within peat. In this study, we present an isotope‐enabled numerical model that simulates transport, degassing, and oxidation of methane and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) along a drainage canal. We then estimate methane fluxes through a 5‐km canal that crosses a disturbed, forested, but undeveloped, peat dome in Brunei Darussalam by applying this model to field data: concentrations and stable carbon isotopic ratios of both methane and dissolved inorganic carbon from both peat porewater and canal water. We estimate that approximately 70% of the methane entering the canal is oxidized within the canal, 26% is degassed to the atmosphere, and 4% is transported toward the ocean, under low to moderate flow conditions. The flux of methane to the atmosphere is lowest at the maximum elevation of the canal, where flow is stagnant and methane concentrations are highest. Downstream, as flow velocity increases, methane emissions plateau even as methane concentrations decrease. The resulting methane emissions from the canal are large compared to emissions from the peat surface and vegetation on a per‐area basis. However, since the canal covers only a small portion of the catchment area, the canal may be a substantial but not dominant source of methane from the peatland.