Gaps in Network Infrastructure limit our understanding of biogenic methane emissions in the United States

Using multidimensional scaling and a cluster analysis, the US was divided into 10 clusters that were distributed across temperature and wetness gradients (2010-2020). We evaluated the distance to the medoid condition within each cluster. This dataset includes the representative analysis for the US, excluding the locations of EC tower sites, which cannot be provided due to privacy concerns for a small subset of towers.Evaluating the strengths and limitations of existing measurement infrastructure is critical for strategic augmentation to provide the most valuable information toward reducing uncertainties in future large-scale budget estimations. To accurately understand the impact of climate and land cover change on biogenic CH4 emissions, we need a long-term, calibrated, and strategic continental-scale CH4 observatory network. Current gaps in existing measurement infrastructure limit our ability to capture the spatial and temporal variations of biogenic CH4 fluxes and therefore limit our ability to predict future CH4 emissions. Maps of potential CH4 emissions require land cover classification targeted at land cover types like wetlands that are important sources of CH4 to the atmosphere. Aquatic ecosystems like streams and lakes as well as coastal ecosystems are significant and variable sources of CH4 not well studied on a long-term basis. Through our analysis using climate, land cover, and location variables, we have identified priority areas to enhance research infrastructure to provide a more complete understanding of the CH4 flux potential of ecosystem types in the US. For EC tower locations, distance to the medoid coverage was lacking for clusters Na, W, and Nb, and currently clusters Na, W, Eb, and Nb are substantially under sampled. All aquatic sites are under sampled within each cluster. An enhanced network would allow for us to monitor both the response of CH4 fluxes to climate and land use change as well as the impact of future policy interventions and mitigation strategies.