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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">ESSDD</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>Earth System Science Data Discussions</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">ESSDD</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss.</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub">1866-3591</issn>
<publisher><publisher-name></publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/essd-2026-420</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Methane Inversion inter-Comparison (MICA): A Multi-model Estimation of Regional and National Emissions in Asia</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Wang</surname>
<given-names>Fenjuan</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3417-6170</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Maksyutov</surname>
<given-names>Shamil</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1200-9577</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Janardanan</surname>
<given-names>Rajesh</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Belikov</surname>
<given-names>Dmitry A.</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2114-7250</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Patra</surname>
<given-names>Prabir K.</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5700-9389</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Liang</surname>
<given-names>Ruosi</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0479-5288</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff16">
<sup>16</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Zhang</surname>
<given-names>Yuzhong</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5431-5022</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Ren</surname>
<given-names>Ge</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff5">
<sup>5</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff6">
<sup>6</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Lin</surname>
<given-names>Hong</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff5">
<sup>5</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff6">
<sup>6</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Montenegro</surname>
<given-names>Nicole</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0009-0005-7501-3644</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff7">
<sup>7</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Berchet</surname>
<given-names>Antoine</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6709-0125</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff7">
<sup>7</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Saunois</surname>
<given-names>Marielle</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff7">
<sup>7</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Martinez</surname>
<given-names>Adrien</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8508-9005</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff7">
<sup>7</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Hyvärinen</surname>
<given-names>Sara</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0009-0004-5652-6201</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff8">
<sup>8</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Tsuruta</surname>
<given-names>Aki</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9197-3005</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff8">
<sup>8</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Kenea</surname>
<given-names>Samuel Takele</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff9">
<sup>9</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Liang</surname>
<given-names>Miao</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff10">
<sup>10</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Lan</surname>
<given-names>Xin</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6327-6950</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff11">
<sup>11</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff12">
<sup>12</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Terao</surname>
<given-names>Yukio</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2345-7073</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Ahmed</surname>
<given-names>M. Kawser</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff13">
<sup>13</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Naja</surname>
<given-names>Manish</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4597-1690</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff14">
<sup>14</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Ito</surname>
<given-names>Akihiko</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5265-0791</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff15">
<sup>15</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Morino</surname>
<given-names>Isamu</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2720-1569</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Yoshida</surname>
<given-names>Yukio</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3515-1488</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Someya</surname>
<given-names>Yu</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6176-3664</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Saeki</surname>
<given-names>Tazu</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1900-1786</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Matsunaga</surname>
<given-names>Tsuneo</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3380-5230</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Satellite Observation Center, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, 305-8506, Japan</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Chiba University, Chiba, 263-8522, Japan</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>Research Institute for Global Change, JAMSTEC, Yokohama 236-0001, Japan</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff4">
<label>4</label>
<addr-line>School of Engineering, Westlake University, Hangzhou, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff5">
<label>5</label>
<addr-line>National Institute of Metrology of China, Beijing, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff6">
<label>6</label>
<addr-line>Zhengzhou Institute of Metrology, Zhengzhou, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff7">
<label>7</label>
<addr-line>Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, LSCE-IPSL (CEA-CNRS-UVSQ), Université Paris-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff8">
<label>8</label>
<addr-line>Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, Finland</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff9">
<label>9</label>
<addr-line>Global Watch Atmosphere and Research Division, National Institute of Meteorological Sciences, 33, Seohobuk-ro, Seogwipo-si 63568, Jeju-do, Korea</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff10">
<label>10</label>
<addr-line>Meteorological Observation Center, China Meteorological Administration, Beijing 100081, People’s Republic  of China</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff11">
<label>11</label>
<addr-line>Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO  80309, USA</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff12">
<label>12</label>
<addr-line>Global Monitoring Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Boulder, CO  80305, USA</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff13">
<label>13</label>
<addr-line>Department of Oceanography, Faculty of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff14">
<label>14</label>
<addr-line>Atmospheric Science Division, Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences, Nainital, India</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff15">
<label>15</label>
<addr-line>The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff16">
<label>16</label>
<addr-line>now at: Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzheng, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>21</day>
<month>09</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>32</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Fenjuan Wang et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2026-420/">This article is available from https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2026-420/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2026-420/essd-2026-420.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2026-420/essd-2026-420.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>Accurate quantification of methane (CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;) emissions from countries/regions is essential for effective emission reduction policy, but large uncertainties persist due to sparse observations and divergent bottom-up inventories. This study establishes a top-down Asian regional methane emission dataset based on the Methane Inversion inter-Comparison for Asia (MICA), using an ensemble of seven inversion systems (five global, two regional) assimilating surface in-situ measurements and GOSAT satellite retrievals for 2010&amp;ndash;2021 under a common protocol. Validation against independent surface, aircraft, and balloon data demonstrates substantial improvements in model performance after inversion, with significant reductions in model-observation Root Mean Square Error (RMSE). Posterior estimates indicate an overall reduction of prior emissions by ~15% for the study area, with the largest decline in East Asia (~25.8%). Though a systematic downward adjustment by the inversion ensemble is observed for most top emitting-countries, the median differences between posterior and prior emissions vary across countries, from -0.9% (Mongolia) to -16.2% (China). Sectoral results suggest increasing emissions from waste management across developing Asian countries and a fourfold increase in Indonesian coal-mine emissions. Comparisons with National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (NGHGIs) reveal systematic underreporting by several nations &amp;mdash; notably India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. We find that inter-model spread is driven largely by horizontal resolution (Coefficient of Variation 10&amp;ndash;20%), and that joint assimilation of satellite and surface observations is an effective option for constraining emissions in regions with sparse monitoring or complex land&amp;ndash;sea geometries. This dataset provides a foundation for regional and national methane budget assessment in Asia and inverse model development, with robust consistency across multiple inversion systems and independent observations. The dataset generated in this study is openly available via Zenodo (&lt;a href=&quot;https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22699291&quot;&gt;https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22699291&lt;/a&gt;, Wang et al., 2026).</p>
</abstract>
<counts><page-count count="32"/></counts>
<funding-group>
<award-group id="gs1">
<funding-source>European Space Agency</funding-source>
<award-id>ESRIN Contract No: 4000137895/22/I-AG MethaneCAMP</award-id>
<award-id>AO/1-10901/21/I-DT AMPAC-Net</award-id>
<award-id>ESA AO/1-11844/23/I-NS ESA SMART-CH4</award-id>
</award-group>
<award-group id="gs2">
<funding-source>European Commission</funding-source>
<award-id>EU Horizon IM4CA (101183460)</award-id>
</award-group>
<award-group id="gs3">
<funding-source>Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo</funding-source>
<award-id>72220111</award-id>
</award-group>
</funding-group>
</article-meta>
</front>
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<back>
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