Xinyu Dou

All Publications

• Machine-learning-based estimates of global natural vegetated wetland methane emissions (2000-2025) EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE DATA Li, M., Jackson, R. B., Saunois, M., Ciais, P., Poulter, B., Canadell, J. G., Patra, P. K., Tian, H., Zhang, Z., Fluet-Chouinard, E., Ouyang, Z., Zhang, T., Beerling, D. J., Belikov, D. A., Bousquet, P., Custodio, D., Chandra, N., Dou, X., Gedney, N., Hopcroft, P. O., Hoyt, A. M., Ichii, K., Ito, A., Jain, A. K., Jensen, K., Joos, F., Kleinen, T., Kondo, M., Li, F., Li, T., Liu, X., Maksyutov, S., Malhotra, A., Martinez, A., McDonald, K., Melton, J. R., Muller, J., Niwa, Y., Pan, S., Peng, S., Peng, C., Qin, Z., Raymond, P., Riley, W., Segers, A., Thompson, R. L., Tsuruta, A., Xi, Y., Yuan, K., Zhang, W., Zheng, B., Zhu, Q., Zhu, Q., Zhuang, Q. 2026; 18 (5): 3507-3524

  View details for DOI 10.5194/essd-18-3507-2026

  View details for Web of Science ID 001772784100001

• China's net-zero budget NATURE REVIEWS EARTH & ENVIRONMENT Liu, Z., Ke, P., Deng, Z., Ciais, P., Andrew, R., Bastos, A., Bai, Y., Canadell, J. G., Guan, D., Dou, X., Davis, S. J., Dai, F., Friedlingstein, P., Huang, X., Hu, Y., Jackson, R. B., Janssens-Maenhout, G., Jones, M. W., Kammen, D. M., Li, Y., Li, T., Liang, S., Liu, L., Poulter, B., Peters, G. P., Sitch, S., Wang, L., Wei, W., Xi, F., Gui, X., Bian, J., Wang, Y., Xue, J., Yan, J., Yue, X., Zhang, N., Zhang, X., Zhang, X., Lu, Y., Schellnhuber, H., Zhang, X., Dai, M., Gong, P., He, K., Wang, G. 2026

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s43017-026-00791-1

  View details for Web of Science ID 001771138300001

• North-south inhomogeneous variations of methane emissions observed by TROPOMI over China. Journal of environmental management Yu, S., Liu, Z., Sun, T., Dou, X., Cui, D. 2026; 404: 129542

  Abstract

  Accurate quantification of methane emissions is critical for global climate change mitigation, particularly given methane's high short-term warming potential. Here, we apply a divergence-driven method to TROPOMI satellite observations to derive high-resolution (0.25°× 0.25°) methane emission maps over China in 2019, independent of prior emission inventories. Our top-down estimate of China's total methane emissions in 2019 is 56.05 ± 14.01 Tg/a, consistent with the range of 40-70 Tg/a reported in previous studies. The emission distribution exhibits striking north-south asymmetry: northern regions (e.g., Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia) show higher emission intensities, dominated by energy-related sources, while southern regions have lower but more variable emissions linked to agricultural sources. Large emitters (emissions >5kg⋅km-2⋅h-1), though accounting for only 10% of total sources, contribute over 40% of national emissions, highlighting their disproportionate role in climate forcing. Emission fingerprints correlate with population density, indicating that anthropogenic activities drive stable, high-intensity emissions. These findings provide a framework for targeted mitigation strategies, emphasizing the need for region-specific policies to address China's diverse methane sources-insights that extend to global efforts to constrain methane's role in near-term warming.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jenvman.2026.129542

  View details for PubMedID 41921269

• Why methane surged in the atmosphere during the early 2020s. Science (New York, N.Y.) Ciais, P., Zhu, Y., Cai, Y., Lan, X., Michel, S. E., Zheng, B., Zhao, Y., Hauglustaine, D. A., Lin, X., Zhang, Y., Sun, S., Tian, X., Zhao, M., Wang, Y., Chang, J., Dou, X., Liu, Z., Andrew, R., Quinn, C. A., Poulter, B., Ouyang, Z., Yuan, W., Yuan, K., Zhu, Q., Li, F., Pan, N., Tian, H., Yu, X., Rocher-Ros, G., Johnson, M. S., Li, M., Li, M., Feng, D., Raymond, P., Yang, X., Canadell, J. G., Jackson, R. B., Yu, X., Li, Y., Saunois, M., Bousquet, P., Peng, S. 2026; 391 (6785): eadx8262

  Abstract

  The atmospheric methane (CH4) growth rate surged after 2019, peaking at 16.2 parts per billion per year (ppb year-1) in 2020 before declining to 8.6 ppb year-1 in 2023. Using multiple atmospheric inversions constrained by observation- and model-based prescribed hydroxyl radical (OH) fields and CH4 atmospheric data, we show that a drop of OH radicals in 2020-2021, followed by recovery in 2022-2023, accounted for 83% of year-on-year variations in the CH4 growth rate, the rest being explained by wetland and inland water emissions, which increased between 2019 and 2020-2022 [+8.6 ± 2.6 teragrams of CH4 per year (TgCH4 year-1)] and then decreased between 2022 and 2023 (-9.9 ± 3.3 TgCH4 year-1). Most emission changes from 2019 to 2023 occurred in northern tropical wetlands in Africa and Asia, whereas South American wetlands emissions declined and Arctic emissions increased after 2019.

  View details for DOI 10.1126/science.adx8262

  View details for PubMedID 41642995

• Global Carbon Budget 2025 EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE DATA Friedlingstein, P., O'Sullivan, M., Jones, M. W., Andrew, R. M., Bakker, D. C. E., Hauck, J., Landschutzer, P., Le Quere, C., Li, H., Luijkx, I. T., Peters, G. P., Peters, W., Pongratz, J., Schwingshackl, C., Sitch, S., Canadell, J. G., Ciais, P., Aas, K., Alin, S. R., Anthoni, P., Barbero, L., Bates, N. R., Bellouin, N., Benoit-Cattin, A., Berghoff, C. F., Bernardello, R., Bopp, L., Brasika, I., Chamberlain, M. A., Chandra, N., Chevallier, F., Chini, L. P., Collier, N. O., Colligan, T. H., Cronin, M., Djeutchouang, L. M., Dou, X., Enright, M. P., Enyo, K., Erb, M., Evans, W., Feely, R. A., Feng, L., Ford, D. J., Foster, A., Fransner, F., Gasser, T., Gehlen, M., Gkritzalis, T., Goncalves De Souza, J., Grassi, G., Gregor, L., Gruber, N., Guenet, B., Gurses, O., Harrington, K., Harris, I., Heinke, J., Hurtt, G. C., Iida, Y., Ilyina, T., Ito, A., Jacobson, A. R., Jain, A. K., Jarnikova, T., Jersild, A., Jiang, F., Jones, S. D., Kato, E., Keeling, R. F., Klein Goldewijk, K., Knauer, J., Kong, Y., Korsbakken, J., Koven, C., Kunimitsu, T., Lan, X., Liu, J., Liu, Z., Liu, Z., Lo Monaco, C., Ma, L., Marland, G., McGuire, P. C., McKinley, G. A., Melton, J. R., Monacci, N., Monier, E., Morgan, E. J., Munro, D. R., Muller, J. D., Nakaoka, S., Nayagam, L. R., Niwa, Y., Nutzel, T., Olsen, A., Omar, A. M., Pan, N., Pandey, S., Pierrot, D., Qin, Z., Regnier, P., Rehder, G., Resplandy, L., Roobaert, A., Rosan, T. M., Rodenbeck, C., Schwinger, J., Skjelvan, I., Smallman, T., Spada, V., Sreeush, M. G., Sun, Q., Sutton, A. J., Sweeney, C., Swingedouw, D., Seferian, R., Takao, S., Tatebe, H., Tian, H., Tian, X., Tilbrook, B., Tsujino, H., Tubiello, F., van Ooijen, E., van der Werf, G. R., van de Velde, S. J., Walker, A. P., Wanninkhof, R., Yang, X., Yuan, W., Yue, X., Zeng, J. 2026; 18 (5): 3211-3288

  View details for DOI 10.5194/essd-18-3211-2026

  View details for Web of Science ID 001764607000001

• Structural changes and impacts of methane emissions in China. Scientific reports Yu, S., Liu, Z., Sun, L., Cui, D., Dou, X. 2025; 15 (1): 40554

  Abstract

  The annual increase in total methane emissions in China has decelerated, largely due to the continued implementation of effective emission reduction policies. Tracking methane emission hotspots and characterizing their emission profiles are critical for driving further reductions. However, the specific role of strong methane emissions in the annual trend changes of China's methane emissions, as well as seasonal emission profiles, has not been clarified. In this study, we use TROPOMI satellite observations to estimate methane emissions in China for 2019-2023 and comprehensively analyze the driving mechanisms of the trend changes and seasonal variations of methane emissions in China by combining the emissions structural properties with the emission regions' signatures. Our results reveal that methane emission trends in China over the five years, based on top-down estimations, have significantly moderated. Emission intensity has declined, stability has improved, and the geographic distribution exhibits a pronounced north-heavy and south-light pattern. While the proportion of unstable strong emissions has remained small and consistent over the years, their contribution to total emissions remains significant. Moreover, the influence of stable strong emissions and unstable weak emissions on overall methane levels has grown over time. Unstable strong emissions, primarily linked to energy-related activities, play a pivotal role in shaping seasonal methane emission trends in China. These findings highlight the complex interplay of emission sources and provide valuable insights for refining methane reduction strategies.

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41598-025-24293-0

  View details for PubMedID 41253995

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC12627088

• Monthly methane emissions in Chinese mainland provinces from 2013-2022. Scientific data Cui, D., Yang, S., Song, X., Huang, X., Duan, C., Ji, M., Li, Z., Yu, S., Deng, Z., Ke, P., Dou, X., Sun, T., Liu, Z. 2025; 12 (1): 948

  Abstract

  As the world's largest source of methane emissions, accurately measuring and tracking China's emissions across various sectors is essential for global climate change efforts. Methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is emitted from diverse anthropogenic and natural sources, many of which exhibit pronounced temporal variability. In particular, emissions from rice cultivation, energy use, and livestock management show strong seasonal patterns, yet high-frequency and spatially detailed methane emission inventories have been lacking. This study introduces the Monthly Methane Emission Inventory for China's Provinces (MMCP), a comprehensive dataset covering the period from January 2013 to December 2022. The dataset includes emissions data from eight key sectors: coal mining, oil and gas systems, energy combustion, rice cultivation, livestock, solid waste, wastewater, and wetlands. By offering sector-specific and temporally resolved emission estimates, MMCP serves as a valuable resource for scientific research, policy evaluation, and emission mitigation planning. This inventory facilitates improved understanding of emission trends and supports more accurate modeling of atmospheric methane concentrations and climate feedbacks.

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41597-025-05107-4

  View details for PubMedID 40473639

  View details for PubMedCentralID 7653960

• Global Carbon Budget 2024 EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE DATA Friedlingstein, P., O'Sullivan, M., Jones, M. W., Andrew, R. M., Hauck, J., Landschutzer, P., Le Quere, C., Li, H., Luijkx, I. T., Olsen, A., Peters, G. P., Peters, W., Pongratz, J., Schwingshackl, C., Sitch, S., Canadell, J. G., Ciais, P., Jackson, R. B., Alin, S. R., Arneth, A., Arora, V., Bates, N. R., Becker, M., Bellouin, N., Berghoff, C. F., Bittig, H. C., Bopp, L., Cadule, P., Campbell, K., Chamberlain, M. A., Chandra, N., Chevallier, F., Chini, L. P., Colligan, T., Decayeux, J., Djeutchouang, L. M., Dou, X., Rojas, C., Enyo, K., Evans, W., Fay, A. R., Feely, R. A., Ford, D. J., Foster, A., Gasser, T., Gehlen, M., Gkritzalis, T., Grassi, G., Gregor, L., Gruber, N., Gurses, O., Harris, I., Hefner, M., Heinke, J., Hurtt, G. C., Iida, Y., Ilyina, T., Jacobson, A. R., Jain, A. K., Jarnikova, T., Jersild, A., Jiang, F., Jin, Z., Kato, E., Keeling, R. F., Goldewijk, K., Knauer, J., Korsbakken, J., Lan, X., Lauvset, S. K., Lefevre, N., Liu, Z., Liu, J., Ma, L., Maksyutov, S., Marland, G., Mayot, N., McGuire, P. C., Metzl, N., Monacci, N. M., Morgan, E. J., Nakaoka, S., Neill, C., Niwa, Y., Nuetzel, T., Olivier, L., Ono, T., Palmer, P. I., Pierrot, D., Qin, Z., Resplandy, L., Roobaert, A., Rosan, T. M., Roedenbeck, C., Schwinger, J., Smallman, T., Smith, S. M., Sospedra-Alfonso, R., Steinhoff, T., Sun, Q., Sutton, A. J., Seferian, R., Takao, S., Tatebe, H., Tian, H., Tilbrook, B., Torres, O., Tourigny, E., Tsujino, H., Tubiello, F., van der Werf, G., Wanninkhof, R., Wang, X., Yang, D., Yang, X., Yu, Z., Yuan, W., Yue, X., Zaehle, S., Zeng, N., Zeng, J. 2025; 17 (3): 965-1039

  View details for DOI 10.5194/essd-17-965-2025

  View details for Web of Science ID 001451449600001

• China's municipal wastewater policies enhanced seafood safety and offset health risks from atmospheric mercury emissions in the past four decades. Nature food Cai, X., Yang, M., Liu, M., Chen, Y., Yu, C., Zhang, H., Zhang, Q., Ma, S., Dou, X., Meng, J., Wang, X. 2025

  Abstract

  The neurotoxin methylmercury in seafood threatens food safety worldwide. China has implemented stringent wastewater policies, established numerous treatment facilities and enforced rigorous water quality standards to address pollution in its waterways. However, the impact of these policies on seafood safety and methylmercury exposure remains unknown. Here we developed a process-based model showing that, although mercury reductions from municipal wastewater policies accounted for only 9% of atmospheric mercury emissions during 1980-2022, these measures unexpectedly prevented 102,000 - 6,600 + 11,000 mercury-related deaths and counteracted nearly two thirds of potential deaths from those emissions. Furthermore, these policies ensured that 146 - 9 + 8 megatonnes of freshwater seafood met the World Health Organization and China's mercury-safety standards, preventing US $ 498 - 29 + 32 billion in economic losses. Finally, we explore how China, as the primary global seafood producer and exporter, could develop municipal wastewater policies at the regional level to reduce aquatic pollutants and unlock the health benefits of seafood consumption.

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s43016-024-01093-9

  View details for PubMedID 39748033

  View details for PubMedCentralID 6055202

• A justice and innovative way ahead of consumption-based emission accounting approach (vol 67, pg 2999, 2024) SCIENCE CHINA-EARTH SCIENCES Shen, Q., Duan, H., Tang, Y., Tang, L., Shang, L., Dou, X., Wei, W., Chen, W., Liu, Z. 2024; 67 (10): 3337-3338

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s11430-024-1422-6

  View details for Web of Science ID 001309292400001

• Influence of extreme 2022 heatwave on megacities' anthropogenic CO₂ emissions in lower-middle reaches of the Yangtze River SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT Tan, J., Wang, J., Wang, H., Liu, Z., Zeng, N., Yan, R., Dou, X., Wang, X., Wang, M., Jiang, F., Wang, H., Ju, W., Chen, J. M. 2024; 951: 175605

  Abstract

  An unprecedented heatwave hit the Yangtze River Basin (YRB) in August 2022. We analyzed changes of anthropogenic CO2 emissions in 8 megacities over lower-middle reaches of the YRB, using a near-real-time gridded daily CO2 emissions dataset. We suggest that the predominant sources of CO2 emissions in these 8 megacities are from the power and industrial sectors. In comparison to the average emissions for August in 2020 and 2021, the heatwave event led to a total increase in power sector emissions of approximately 2.70 Mt CO2, potentially due to the increase in urban cooling demand. Suzhou experienced the largest increase, with a rise of 1.12 Mt CO2 (12.88 %). Importantly, we observed that changes in daily power emissions exhibited strong linear relationships with temperatures during the heatwave, albeit varying sensitivities across different megacities (with an average of 0.0076 ± 0.0075 Mt d-1 °C-1). Conversely, we find that industrial emissions decreased by a total of 8.45 Mt CO2, with Shanghai seeing the largest decrease of 4.71 Mt CO2, while Hangzhou experienced the largest relative decrease (-21.22 %). It is noteworthy that the majority of megacities rebounded in industrial emissions following the conclusion of the heatwave. We convincingly suggest a tight linkage between the reductions in industrial emissions and China's policy to ensure household power supply. Overall, the reduction in industrial emissions offset the increase in power sector emissions, resulting in weaker emissions for majority of megacities during the heatwave. Despite remaining uncertainties in the emissions data, our study may offer valuable insights into the complexities of anthropogenic CO2 emissions in megacities amidst frequent summer heatwaves intensified by greenhouse warming.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.175605

  View details for Web of Science ID 001299263100001

  View details for PubMedID 39154994

• A justice and innovative way ahead of consumption-based emission accounting approach SCIENCE CHINA-EARTH SCIENCES Shen, Q., Duan, H., Tang, Y., Tang, L., Shang, L., Dou, X., Wei, W., Chen, W., Liu, Z. 2024; 67 (9): 2999-3010

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s11430-024-1353-9

  View details for Web of Science ID 001273964100001

• Global Carbon Budget 2023 EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE DATA Friedlingstein, P., O'Sullivan, M., Jones, M. W., Andrew, R. M., Bakker, D. C. E., Hauck, J., Landschutzer, P., Le Quere, C., Luijkx, I. T., Peters, G. P., Peters, W., Pongratz, J., Schwingshackl, C., Sitch, S., Canadell, J. G., Ciais, P., Jackson, R. B., Alin, S. R., Anthoni, P., Barbero, L., Bates, N. R., Becker, M., Bellouin, N., Decharme, B., Bopp, L., Brasika, I., Cadule, P., Chamberlain, M. A., Chandra, N., Chau, T., Chevallier, F., Chini, L. P., Cronin, M., Dou, X., Enyo, K., Evans, W., Falk, S., Feely, R. A., Feng, L., Ford, D. J., Gasser, T., Ghattas, J., Gkritzalis, T., Grassi, G., Gregor, L., Gruber, N., Gurses, O., Harris, I., Hefner, M., Heinke, J., Houghton, R. A., Hurtt, G. C., Iida, Y., Ilyina, T., Jacobson, A. R., Jain, A., Jarnikova, T., Jersild, A., Jiang, F., Jin, Z., Joos, F., Kato, E., Keeling, R. F., Kennedy, D., Goldewijk, K., Knauer, J., Korsbakken, J., Koertzinger, A., Lan, X., Lefevre, N., Li, H., Liu, J., Liu, Z., Ma, L., Marland, G., Mayot, N., McGuire, P. C., McKinley, G. A., Meyer, G., Morgan, E. J., Munro, D. R., Nakaoka, S., Niwa, Y., O'Brien, K. M., Olsen, A., Omar, A. M., Ono, T., Paulsen, M., Pierrot, D., Pocock, K., Poulter, B., Powis, C. M., Rehder, G., Resplandy, L., Robertson, E., Roedenbeck, C., Rosan, T. M., Schwinger, J., Seferian, R., Smallman, T., Smith, S. M., Sospedra-Alfonso, R., Sun, Q., Sutton, A. J., Sweeney, C., Takao, S., Tans, P. P., Tian, H., Tilbrook, B., Tsujino, H., Tubiello, F., van der Werf, G. R., van Ooijen, E., Wanninkhof, R., Watanabe, M., Wimart-Rousseau, C., Yang, D., Yang, X., Yuan, W., Yue, X., Zaehle, S., Zeng, J., Zheng, B. 2023; 15 (12): 5301-5369

  View details for DOI 10.5194/essd-15-5301-2023

  View details for Web of Science ID 001174421100001

• Global patterns of daily CO2 emissions reductions in the first year of COVID-19 NATURE GEOSCIENCE Liu, Z., Deng, Z., Zhu, B., Ciais, P., Davis, S. J., Tan, J., Andrew, R. M., Boucher, O., Ben Arous, S., Canadell, J. G., Dou, X., Friedlingstein, P., Gentine, P., Guo, R., Hong, C., Jackson, R. B., Kammen, D. M., Ke, P., Le Quere, C., Monica, C., Janssens-Maenhout, G., Peters, G. P., Tanaka, K., Wang, Y., Zheng, B., Zhong, H., Sun, T., Schellnhuber, H. 2022

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41561-022-00965-8

  View details for Web of Science ID 000819327300002

• Global Carbon Budget 2021 EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE DATA Friedlingstein, P., Jones, M. W., O'Sullivan, M., Andrew, R. M., Bakker, D. C. E., Hauck, J., Le Quere, C., Peters, G. P., Peters, W., Pongratz, J., Sitch, S., Canadell, J. G., Ciais, P., Jackson, R. B., Alin, S. R., Anthoni, P., Bates, N. R., Becker, M., Bellouin, N., Bopp, L., Chau, T., Chevallier, F., Chini, L. P., Cronin, M., Currie, K. I., Decharme, B., Djeutchouang, L. M., Dou, X., Evans, W., Feely, R. A., Feng, L., Gasser, T., Gilfillan, D., Gkritzalis, T., Grassi, G., Gregor, L., Gruber, N., Gurses, O., Harris, I., Houghton, R. A., Hurtt, G. C., Iida, Y., Ilyina, T., Luijkx, I. T., Jain, A., Jones, S. D., Kato, E., Kennedy, D., Klein Goldewijk, K., Knauer, J., Korsbakken, J., Kortzinger, A., Landschutzer, P., Lauvset, S. K., Lefevre, N., Lienert, S., Liu, J., Marland, G., McGuire, P. C., Melton, J. R., Munro, D. R., Nabel, J. S., Nakaoka, S., Niwa, Y., Ono, T., Pierrot, D., Poulter, B., Rehder, G., Resplandy, L., Robertson, E., Rodenbeck, C., Rosan, T. M., Schwinger, J., Schwingshackl, C., Seferian, R., Sutton, A. J., Sweeney, C., Tanhua, T., Tans, P. P., Tian, H., Tilbrook, B., Tubiello, F., van der Werf, G. R., Vuichard, N., Wada, C., Wanninkhof, R., Watson, A. J., Willis, D., Wiltshire, A. J., Yuan, W., Yue, C., Yue, X., Zaehle, S., Zeng, J. 2022; 14 (4): 1917-2005

  View details for DOI 10.5194/essd-14-1917-2022

  View details for Web of Science ID 000787247700001