Scientists think they can now explain at least part of the recent growth in methane (CH4) levels in the atmosphere.
Researchers, led from Edinburgh University, UK, say their studies point to a big jump in emissions coming from just the wetlands of South Sudan.
Satellite data indicates the region received a large surge of water from East African lakes, including Victoria.
This would have boosted CH4 from the wetlands, accounting for a significant part of the rise in global methane.
Perhaps even up to a third of the growth seen in the period 2010-2016, when considered with East Africa as a whole.
“There’s not much ground-monitoring in this region that can prove or disprove our results, but the data we have fits together beautifully,” said Prof Paul Palmer.
“We have independent lines of evidence to show the Sudd wetlands expanded in size, and you can even see it in aerial imagery – they became greener,” he told BBC News.
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, and – just like carbon dioxide – is increasing its concentration in the atmosphere.
It’s not been a steady rise, however. Indeed, during the early 2000s, the amount of the gas even stabilised for a while. But then the concentration jumped in about 2007, with a further uptick recorded in 2014.
CH4 (methane) is now climbing rapidly and today stands at just over 1,860 parts per billion by volume.
There’s currently a debate about the likely sources, with emissions from human activities such as agriculture and fossil-fuel use undoubtedly in the mix. But there is a large natural component as well, and a lot of current research is centred on contributions from the tropics.
2019 BBC