22:T439,Lakes and impoundments are an important source of methane (CH₄), a potent greenhouse gas, to the atmosphere. A recent analysis shows aquatic productivity (i.e., eutrophication) is an important driver of CH₄ emissions from lentic waters. Considering that aquatic productivity will increase over the next century due to climate change and a growing human population, a concomitant increase in aquatic CH₄ emissions may occur. We simulate the eutrophication of lentic waters under scenarios of future nutrient loading to inland waters and show that enhanced eutrophication of lakes and impoundments will substantially increase CH₄ emissions from these systems (+30-90%) over the next century. This increased CH₄ emission has an atmospheric impact of 1.7-2.6 Pg C-CO₂-eq y^-1, which is equivalent to 18-33% of annual CO₂ emissions from burning fossil fuels. Thus, it is not only important to limit eutrophication to preserve fragile water supplies, but also to avoid acceleration of climate change.23:T45f,Lakes and impoundments are important sources of greenhouse gases (GHG: i.e., CO₂, CH₄, N₂O), yet global emission estimates are based on regionally-biased averages and elementary upscaling. We assembled the largest global dataset to date on emission rates of all three GHGs and found they covary with lake size and trophic state. Fitted models were upscaled to estimate global emission using global lake size inventories and a remotely-sensed global lake productivity distribution. Traditional upscaling approaches overestimated CO₂ and N₂O emission but underestimated CH₄ by half. Our upscaled size-productivity weighted estimates (1.25-2.30 Pg of CO₂-equivalents annually) are nearly 20% of global CO₂ fossil fuel emission with ~75% of the climate impact due to CH₄. Moderate global increases in eutrophication could translate to 5-40% increases in the GHG effects in the atmosphere, adding the equivalent effect of another 13% of fossil fuel combustion or an effect equal to GHG emissions from current land use change.24:T18b8,

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