Atmospheric methane

About: Atmospheric methane is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2034 publications have been published within this topic receiving 119616 citations.

Interactions of CH4 and Co in the Earth's Atmosphere

Abstract: Global distributions, sources, and sinks of methane and carbon monoxide in upper and lower levels of the earth's atmosphere, and the global budgets of methane and carbon monoxide, are studied, with emphasis on cumulative pollution. Stratospheric contents, vertical profiles of concentrations, simulation of vertical transport through the atmosphere, and latitudinal distributions are examined. Diffuse and localized (urban) concentrations of CO as pollutant are studied, and anthropogenic sources and sinks for CH4 and CO are considered. Perturbation of the CH4-CO-CO2 cycle, crucial to self-cleansing mechanisms of the troposphere, by anthropogenic CO emissions, and the effect of CO long life as global pollutant, are investigated.

Long-term analysis of carbon dioxide and methane column-averaged mole fractions retrieved from SCIAMACHY

Abstract: . Carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) are the two most important anthropogenic greenhouse gases contributing to global climate change. SCIAMACHY onboard ENVISAT (launch 2002) was the first and is now with TANSO onboard GOSAT (launch 2009) one of only two satellite instruments currently in space whose measurements are sensitive to CO2 and CH4 concentration changes in the lowest atmospheric layers where the variability due to sources and sinks is largest. We present long-term SCIAMACHY retrievals (2003–2009) of column-averaged dry air mole fractions of both gases (denoted XCO2 and XCH4) derived from absorption bands in the near-infrared/shortwave-infrared (NIR/SWIR) spectral region focusing on large-scale features. The results are obtained using an upgraded version (v2) of the retrieval algorithm WFM-DOAS including several improvements, while simultaneously maintaining its high processing speed. The retrieved mole fractions are compared to global model simulations (CarbonTracker XCO2 and TM5 XCH4) being optimised by assimilating highly accurate surface measurements from the NOAA/ESRL network and taking the SCIAMACHY averaging kernels into account. The comparisons address seasonal variations and long-term characteristics. The steady increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide primarily caused by the burning of fossil fuels can be clearly observed with SCIAMACHY globally. The retrieved global annual mean XCO2 increase agrees with CarbonTracker within the error bars (1.80±0.13 ppm yr−1 compared to 1.81±0.09 ppm yr−1). The amplitude of the XCO2 seasonal cycle as retrieved by SCIAMACHY, which is 4.3±0.2 ppm for the Northern Hemisphere and 1.4±0.2 ppm for the Southern Hemisphere, is on average about 1 ppm larger than for CarbonTracker. An investigation of the boreal forest carbon uptake during the growing season via the analysis of longitudinal gradients shows good agreement between SCIAMACHY and CarbonTracker concerning the overall magnitude of the gradients and their annual variations. The analysis includes a discussion of the relative uptake strengths of the Russian and North American boreal forest regions. The retrieved XCH4 results show that after years of stability, atmospheric methane has started to rise again in recent years which is consistent with surface measurements. The largest increase is observed for the tropics and northern mid- and high-latitudes amounting to about 7.5±1.5 ppb yr−1 since 2007. Due care has been exercised to minimise the influence of detector degradation on the quantitative estimate of this anomaly.

Modeling the soil consumption of atmospheric methane at the global scale

Abstract: [1] A simple scheme for the soil consumption of atmospheric methane, based on an exact solution of the one-dimensional diffusion-reaction equation in the near-surface soil layer, is described. The model includes a parameterization of biological oxidation that is sensitive to soil temperature, moisture content, and land cultivation fraction. The scheme was incorporated in the Canadian Land Surface Scheme (CLASS), with forcing provided by a 21-a, global land meteorological data set, and was calibrated using multiyear field measurements. Application of the scheme on the global scale gives an annual mean sink strength of 28 Tg CH4 a−1, with an estimated uncertainty range of 9–47 Tg CH4 a−1. A strong seasonality is present at Northern Hemisphere high latitudes, with enhanced uptake during the summer months. Under the specified surface forcings, the oxidation parameterization is more sensitive to soil moisture than to temperature. Compared to the previous work of Ridgwell et al. (1999), our empirically based water stress parameterization reduces uptake more rapidly with decreasing soil moisture, resulting in a decrease of ∼50% in the potential global sink strength. Analysis of the geographical distribution of methane consumption shows that subtropical and dry tropical ecosystems account for over half of the global uptake.