Reading notes-7

Methane(CH4) is the most abundant organic trace gas in the atmosphere. In the distant past, variations in natural sources of methane were responsible for trends in atmospheric methane levels recorded in ice cores.

Since the 1700s, rapidly growing human activities, particularly in the areas of agriculture, fossil fuel use, and waste disposal, have more than doubled methane emissions. Atmospheric methane concentrations have increased by a factor of 2-3 in response to this increase, and continue to rise. These increasing concentrations have raised concern due to their potential effects on atmospheric chemistry and climate.

Methane is important to both tropospheric and stratospheric chemistry, significantly affecting levels of ozone, water vapor, the hydroxyl radical, and numerous other compounds. In addition, methane is currently the second most important greenhouse gas emitted from human activities.

On a per molecule basis, it is much more effective a greenhouse gas than additional CO2. In this review, we examine past trends in the concentration of methane in the atmosphere, the sources and sinks that determine its growth rate, and the factors that will affect its growth rate in the future. We also present current understanding of the effects of methane on atmospheric chemistry, and examine the direct and indirect impacts of atmospheric methane on climate.

Methane is the most abundant organic trace gas in the atmosphere. Concentrations of CH4 have more than doubled since pre-industrial times, with a current globally-averaged mixing ratio of ~1750 ppmv. The effects of CH4 on climate and atmospheric chemistry are the reason for concern over its high growth rate.

Following water vapor and carbon dioxide(CO2), methane is the most abundant greenhouse gas in the troposphere. Both on a molecule and a mass basis, additional methane is actually much more effective as a greenhouse gas than additional CO2. Methane is also the most abundant reactive trace gas in the troposphere and its reactivity is important to both tropospheric and stratospheric chemistry. The oxidation of CH4 by hydroxyl(OH) in the troposphere leads to the formation of formaldehyde (CH2O), carbon monixide(CO), and ozone(O3), in the presence of sufficiently high levels of nitrogen oxides(NOx).

Along with CO, methane helps control the amount of OH in the troposphere. Methane also affects the concentrations of water vapor and ozone in the stratosphere, and plays a key role in the conversion of reactive chlorine to less reactive HCl in the stratosphere.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the past trends in the concentration of methane, the sources and sinks affecting its growth rate, and the factors that could affect its future growth rate. This study also examines the current understanding of the effects of methane on atmospheric chemistry and on climate.

The atmospheric concentration of methane has increased dramatically over the last century and continues to increase. While budget and isotopic analyses have confirmed the causal role of human activities in this increase, significant uncertainties remain in understanding the factors that affect emissions from various sources and how these will change over time. Uncertainties in how the sources and sinks of methane will change in the future limit our ability to develop meaningful climate change policies aimed at controlling methane emissions.

The 1998 increase in the growth rate of methane has renewed the debate about future levels of methane. This increase could just be a short-lived anomaly. However, if this increase is the first sign of one of the most important biogenic feedbacks to climate change- the response of wetlands to the increases in global temperatures-this raises urgent questions concerning the magnitude of the response of methane concentrations to the much larger increases in global temperatures projected to occur over the next century.

More research is needed to fully understand the growth rate in methane and its future projection. More complete analyses will require increased coordination between programs measuring atmospheric abundances and isotopic ratios, and modelling efforts that couple biospheric and oceanic biogeochemistry with atmospheric processes.

本文引自"Atmospheric methane and global change"文章，该文章主要是关于甲烷的一篇综述，分析了甲烷的变化趋势、源汇以及未来的影响因素