Methane levels surged in 2020 despite lockdowns www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Copernicus/Sent…
Levels of methane, the second most important greenhouse gas in our atmosphere, continued their unrelenting rise in 2020 despite the economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. A team of scientists, from the University of Leeds, have used data from the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite to pinpoint locations with large surges of methane emissions…
In situ methane measurements from 2020 showed the largest annual increase of methane concentrations since the 1980s, with this record surpassed in 2021. The year of 2020 was unique owing to the global pandemic, yet methane concentrations continued to rise despite a reduction in economic activity…
It is not fully understood what is driving the recent trends in global methane concentrations owing to the uncertainty surrounding the sources and sinks.
Termites produce methane as they chew into wood. Biodegradation of cellolosics including paper, straw, grass, etc are likely contributers. Much of it is natural.
Plus leakage from gas wells and processing. Miscellaneous uses like electronic pilot lights. Etc, etc.
Better controls or capture will help but elimination is unlikely.
NOAA measures the atmospheric methane concentration. The latest measurements are now above 1900 ppb. The concentration is less than that of CO2 (420 ppm), but the global warming potential for methane is much higher than CO2.
The last few years show a rapid increase in the slope of the curve. The concentration was relatively stable from about the year 2000 to about 2007. Since 2010, the concentration has risen faster, with 2020 and 2021 at very high rates of 15 and 18 ppb per year increase.
World consumption of natural gas was at an all-time high in 2021 at 4037 billion cubic meters.
It makes sense that if more gas is drawn out of the ground, more of it is going to leak out during the various stages of production, processing and delivery.
The concentration was relatively stable from about the year 2000 to about 2007. Since 2010, the concentration has risen faster…It makes sense that if more gas is drawn out of the ground, more of it is going to leak out during the various stages of production, processing and delivery.
A 21st century shift from fossil-fuel to biogenic methane emissions indicated by 13CH4
Schaefer et al. http://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2016/03/09/scien…
Abstract:
Between 1999 and 2006, a plateau interrupted the otherwise continuous increase of atmospheric methane concentration [CH4] since pre-industrial times. Causes could be sink variability or a temporary reduction in industrial or climate sensitive sources. We reconstruct the global history of [CH4] and its stable carbon isotopes from ice cores, archived air and a global network of monitoring stations. A box-model analysis suggests that diminishing thermogenic emissions, probably from the fossil-fuel industry, and/or variations in the hydroxyl CH4-sink caused the [CH4]-plateau. Thermogenic emissions didn’t resume to cause the renewed [CH4]-rise after 2006, which contradicts emission inventories. Post-2006 source increases are predominantly biogenic, outside the Arctic, and arguably more consistent with agriculture than wetlands. If so, mitigating CH4-emissions must be balanced with the need for food production.
Post-2006 source increases are predominantly biogenic, outside the Arctic, and arguably more consistent with agriculture than wetlands.
Does that sentence mean the post-2006 methane increases are occurring mostly outside the Arctic? Or does it mean the increases in the Arctic are mostly non-biogenic (i.e. fossil fuel source)? I can read that sentence either way.
Either way, if true, I guess that means that the world is eating better and eating more meat. That’s not necessarily a bad thing for a big part of the world often on the edge of starvation or at least malnutrition.
The study is 6 years old, so it would be interesting to see if the isotopic analysis still shows agriculture as the source.
Post-2006 source increases are predominantly biogenic, outside the Arctic, and arguably more consistent with agriculture than wetlands. — Does that sentence mean the post-2006 methane increases are occurring mostly outside the Arctic?
Yes. The plain language summary is titled “Getting a rise out of agriculture” and there isn’t any agriculture in the Arctic.