Data for methane flux inversion in Central Europe 2021 These datasets include the main results of a top-down estimation of methane fluxes in Europe with the focus on validating German emission reporting. The file README.txt contains a brief description of the other files. In plot_data.py you can find examples for visualizing the data. CHANGES.txt documents changes in different versions of this data collection. The data are derived from various input data including: observations collected in the European Obspack (ICOS RI et al. 2024, doi:10.18160/9B66-SQM1) provided on the ICOS Carbon Portal a priori emissions from the CAMS-REG-ANT data product (Kuenen et al. 2021, doi:10.24380/0vzb-a387) provided by the Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS) and ECCAD a priori emissions for wetlands from CAMS inversion-optimized (Segers and Houweling 2020, https://ads.atmosphere.copernicus.eu/datasets/cams-global-greenhouse-gas-inversion) provided by the Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service a priori emissions for Germany provided by Umweltbundesamt and Thünen Institute a priori natural emissions from oceans (Weber et al. 2023, doi:10.1038/s41467-019-12541-7) and rivers/streams (Rocher-Ros et al. 2023, doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06344-6)