That’s a lot of cow farts.
The lucky countries involved are sitting on riches.
A 21st-century shift from fossil-fuel to biogenic methane emissions indicated by 13CH4
Schaefer et al.
https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.aad2705
Abstract:
Between 1999 and 2006, a plateau interrupted the otherwise continuous increase of atmospheric methane concentration [CH4] since preindustrial times. Causes could be sink variability or a temporary reduction in industrial or climate-sensitive sources. We reconstructed 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 did not 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.
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Ergo: Eat more veggies, eat less beef.
And less rice…
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Another paper on the increase in biogenic methane over the last two decades:
“Our findings point to the wet tropics as the driving force behind increased methane concentrations since 2010,” Qu says. “Improved observations of wetland methane emissions and how methane production responds to precipitation changes are key to understanding the role of precipitation patterns on tropical wetland ecosystems.”
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A paper out this month points in the same direction.
By examining the types of carbon atoms, or isotopes, that the methane sample contains, Michel, Li and the team can identify its source. For example, methane from fossil fuels has more carbon-13 isotope than methane in the air, and methane from microbial sources contains even less carbon-13. The lab has been measuring isotopes of methane since 1998…
Michel noticed a surprising decrease in the carbon-13 isotope over the past 17 years…
Since 2007, scientists have observed microbes playing a significant role in methane emissions, but their contribution has surged to over 90% starting in 2020.
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