Deep in a Louisiana swamp, two determined scientists, Gage Hunter and Manab Dutta, wrestled their boat free from thick mud. As their vessel floated, a stream of bubbles rose from the murky depths. “That’s methane!” Hunter exclaimed, pointing to the potent greenhouse gas. This expedition into the boggy wildlife reserve near New Orleans is part of a critical effort to track methane, a gas far more powerful than carbon dioxide in its short-term warming effect.
While much public attention rightfully focuses on methane leaks from oil and gas operations, a growing concern is the accelerating release of this heat-trapping gas from natural sources. Wetlands globally contribute an estimated 180 to 400 million metric tons of methane annually, significantly more than the 120 to 133 million metric tons from fossil fuel activities, as reported by the Global Methane Budget. This methane accumulates in oxygen-deprived, waterlogged soils and escapes through bubbles, decomposition, and certain plants. As global temperatures climb, microbial activity speeds up, causing wetlands worldwide to release methane at an even faster rate.
From the vast Everglades to the dense Amazon, researchers are working tirelessly to refine their estimates of wetland methane production and the conditions under which it occurs. Gage Hunter, a graduate student at Louisiana State University, along with postdoctoral researcher Manab Dutta, are part of the ‘ground crew’ unraveling these complex processes. Hunter explained, “We are the ground crew trying to understand what’s happening to methane down here in the soil. We’ll leave it up to the other guys to figure out what’s happening in the air.”
Understanding methane’s lifecycle is paramount, given it contributes roughly 30 percent to the global temperature increase since the Industrial Revolution and is 80 times more effective at atmospheric warming than carbon dioxide over the short term. Some bacteria produce methane, while others consume it; Hunter’s research explores the delicate balance between these two processes to determine how much methane ultimately escapes into the atmosphere.
Early findings indicate that freshwater swamps continuously emit methane, with higher rates during warmer months, whereas saltwater marshes produce minimal amounts. This suggests that enhancing seawater flow in coastal swamps could be a viable solution, simultaneously restoring vital wildlife habitats and commercial fisheries. The challenge, however, is that as global temperatures rise, methane-producing bacterial reactions intensify, and increased rainfall expands wetland areas, potentially exacerbating emissions.
Despite efforts by the oil and gas industry to curb its methane footprint, with a recent study suggesting industrial emissions have stabilized over the past two decades, other sources are growing. Ben Riddell-Young, a research scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder, noted that emissions from landfills and agricultural operations, also driven by methane-producing bacteria, are on the rise due to “more waste and more cows.”
However, some scientists caution that current monitoring is insufficient to confirm a plateau in fossil fuel methane emissions. A new, un-peer-reviewed analysis using satellite data suggests that actual emissions from about half of the world’s oil and gas regions are 50 percent higher than previous estimates by regulatory agencies.
Dr. Ben Poulter, a senior scientist at Spark Climate Solutions, emphasizes the monitoring gap: “I don’t think we have the monitoring in place to fully understand whether industrial emissions are stable or not, and the same would go for agriculture.” His own six-year NASA-funded project, BlueFlux, in the Florida Everglades, which used low-flying aircraft to measure greenhouse gases, was unfortunately halted. His team’s data revealed that while Everglades wetlands removed 14 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, they also emitted 6 million metric tons of methane, offsetting half of the carbon removal benefit. Dr. Poulter concurs that wetland methane emissions are worsening with climate change, stating, “In the last three to five years, the scientific community has moved toward a consensus that wetlands are responsible for a large part of the acceleration.”
While over 150 nations have pledged to cut methane emissions by 30 percent of 2020 levels by 2030—targeting industrial leaks, renewable energy, rice farming, and landfills—natural sources remain excluded. Brian Buma, a senior climate scientist for the Environmental Defense Fund, warns, “When you project out how fast we are warming, countries are using scenarios that are ignoring this growing source of methane, especially wetlands.”
Back in the Louisiana marsh, Hunter carefully positioned a clear plastic dome over a patch of cleared soil, connecting it to a laptop to record real-time emissions. His work also extends to the lab in Baton Rouge, where he uses radioactive particles to trace methane’s journey from microbes to soil and air, determining how much is consumed by methane-eating bacteria. He notes the complexity that marsh restoration efforts, by increasing freshwater flow, might inadvertently boost methane emissions, underscoring the need for a comprehensive understanding.
Hunter and his colleagues stress that the most effective way to slow this wetlands methane feedback loop is to significantly reduce all industrial greenhouse gas emissions. In the interim, these dedicated scientists will continue their fieldwork, comparing data, and analyzing numbers to grasp the planet’s rapidly changing natural cycles. As Hunter articulates, “Our lab is trying to measure the complete continuum of methane, from, like, cradle to grave, or from birth to exit into the atmosphere. So as scientists, we want to make sure that we’re doing the best we can to minimize methane emissions, to minimize climate change.”
A correction was made on Feb. 18, 2026: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified the organization where Brian Buma works. It is the Environmental Defense Fund, not the Natural Resources Defense Council.