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The wind blown ice surface at Law Dome Antarctica where high resolution ice cores have been extracted for greenhouse gas analysis.
The wind blown ice surface at Law Dome Antarctica where high resolution ice cores have been extracted for greenhouse gas analysis.
Photo by: Tas van Ommen

Climate questions: Have methane levels stabilised?

Following almost a decade with little change in global atmospheric methane, new measurements show renewed atmospheric growth starting in 2007, continuing through 2008 and starting to wane in 2009. This renewed growth has lead to concerns by some science commentators that large quantities of methane are becoming destabilised as the planet and the oceans heat up.
  1. In brief
  2. In depth

In brief

Page 1 of 2

Methane is the second most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide.

It is responsible for about one fifth of anthropogenic warming, with its atmospheric concentration increasing by 150 per cent since pre-industrial times.

Methane is released by natural processes such as the anaerobic decay of organic matter, particularly from wetlands, termites and wild ruminants, and from biomass combustion in bushfires. 

Anthropogenic methane emissions come largely from agricultural practises such as growing rice and raising cattle, agricultural biomass burning, coal mining, landfills and burning natural gas and oil.

Following almost a decade with little change in global atmospheric methane, new measurements show renewed atmospheric growth starting in 2007, continuing through 2008, and starting to wane in 2009.

All monitoring stations (tropical, extra-tropical in both hemispheres) around the world show similar and virtually simultaneous growth rate changes from 2007 to 2009, suggesting a significant role for tropical sources and/or sinks of methane in driving these changes.

This renewed growth has lead to concerns by some science commentators that large quantities of methane are becoming destabilised as the planet and the oceans heat up.

Vast stores of methane are trapped, frozen beneath the sea floor and locked up in frozen Arctic soils known as permafrost.

If even a small percentage of this stored methane is released, it could cause significant warming.

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References

Dlugokencky E, Lang P, Masarie K, Crotwell A, Bruhwiler L, Emmons L, Montzka S, White J.  2009. Is atmospheric methane on the rise again? Abstracts: NOAA ESRL Global Monitoring Annual Conference. Boulder Colorado, USA. P. 22.

Loulergue L et al. 2008. EPICA Dome C Ice Core 800KYr Methane Data. IGBP PAGES/World Data Center for Paleoclimatology Data Contribution Series # 2008-054. NOAA/NCDC Paleoclimatology Program. Boulder Colorado, USA.

MacFarling Meure C, Etheridge D, Trudinger C, Steele P, Langenfelds R, van Ommen T, Smith A, Elkins J. 2006. The Law Dome CO2, CH4 and N2O Ice Core Records Extended to 2000 years BP [external link]. Geophysical Research Letters. 33 (14), L14810.

Mascarelli A. 2009. A sleeping giant? Nature. Nature Reports – Climate Change 3.

Nisbet E, Chappellaz J. 2009. Shifting Gear, Quickly. Science. 324, 46-49.

Petrenko V, Smith A, Brook E, Lowe D, Riedel K, Brailsford G, Hua Q, Schaefer H, Reeh N, Weiss R, Etheridge D, Severinghaus J. 2009. 14CH4 measurements in Greenland ice: investigating last glacial termination CH4 sources, Science, 324, 506-508.

Rigby M, Prinn R, Fraser P, Simmonds P, Langenfelds R, Huang J, Cunnold D, Steele P, Krummel P, Weiss R, O’Doherty S, Salameh P, Wang R, Harth C, Mühle J, Porter L. 2008. Renewed growth of atmospheric methane. Geophysical Research Letters. Vol 35. L22805.

Rigby M, Prinn R, Fraser P, Simmonds P, Huang J, Cunnold D, Steele P, Krummel P, Weiss R, O’Doherty S, Salameh P, Wang  H, Harth C, Mühle J, Porter L. 2009. AGAGE measurements of recent global methane growth. NOAA ESRL Global Monitoring Annual Conference. Boulder Colorado, USA. May. P. 23.

Walter K, Zimov A, Chanton P, Verbyla D, Chapin F. 2006. Methane bubbling from Siberian thaw lakes as a positive feedback to climate warming. Nature, 443.

 

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Fast facts

  • Methane is responsible for about one fifth of anthropogenic warming, with its atmospheric concentration increasing by 150% since pre-industrial times
  • All monitoring stations show similar and virtually simultaneous growth rate changes from 2007 to 2009
  • Vast stores of methane are trapped, frozen beneath the sea floor and locked up in frozen Arctic soils known as permafrost

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