Nature - "Dangerously Fast" Growth In Atmospheric Methane; Now Triple Pre-Industrial Levels

[hatrack]

Methane concentrations in the atmosphere raced past 1,900 parts per billion last year, nearly triple pre-industrial levels, according to data released in January by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Scientists say the grim milestone underscores the importance of a pledge made at last year’s COP26 climate summit to curb emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas at least 28 times as potent as carbon dioxide.

The growth of methane emissions slowed around the turn of the millennium, but began a rapid and mysterious uptick around 2007. The spike has caused many researchers to worry that global warming is creating a feedback mechanism that will cause ever more methane to be released, making it even harder to rein in rising temperatures.



“Methane levels are growing dangerously fast,” says Euan Nisbet, an Earth scientist at Royal Holloway, University of London, in Egham, UK.

Some researchers think that much of the increase in the past 15 years might be due to microbial sources, rather than the extraction of fossil fuels. The emissions are a major threat to the world’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5–2 °C over pre-industrial temperatures.

EDIT

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00561-1

[Random Boomer]

1. Bonus article

Right below the methane emissions article is one about sneezing hamsters. You can't make this stuff up.

Sneezing hamsters sparked Hong Kong COVID outbreak