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The amount of methane in the atmosphere is the result of a balance between the production of methane on the Earth's surface—its source—and the destruction or removal of methane, mainly in the atmosphere—its sink— in an atmospheric chemical process.
30 wrz 2024 · Methane concentration in the atmosphere. Measured in parts per million. NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory - Trends in Atmospheric Methane (2024); EPA based on various sources (2022) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
8 wrz 2023 · The atmospheric methane trend is not fully understood. Here we investigate the role of the main sink, the main natural source, and anthropogenic emissions on the methane growth rate over the...
Methane (CH 4) is a powerful greenhouse gas, and is the second-largest contributor to climate warming after carbon dioxide (CO 2). A molecule of methane traps more heat than a molecule of CO 2, but methane has a relatively short lifespan of 7 to 12 years in the atmosphere, while CO 2 can persist for hundreds of years or more.
The concentration of methane in the atmosphere is now over two-and-a-half times greater than pre-industrial levels. The increase has accelerated in recent years, and preliminary data indicates that there was another significant annual increase in 2023.
Methane has a much shorter atmospheric lifetime than CO 2 (around 12 years compared with centuries for CO 2), but it is a much more potent greenhouse gas, absorbing much more energy while it exists in the atmosphere.
Methane has a much shorter atmospheric lifetime than carbon dioxide (CO 2) – around 12 years compared with centuries – but absorbs much more energy while it exists in the atmosphere. Methane also affects air quality because it can lead to ground level (tropospheric) ozone, a dangerous air pollutant.
