Skip to main content

Ozone Depletion, Greenhouse Gases, and Climate Change (1989) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:

9 Historical Trends in Atmospheric Methane Concentration and . . .
Pages 79-84

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 79...
... This recent increase in atmospheric CH4 over the past several hundred years correlates with the growth of the human population and industrial society and is hypothesized to be a result of increased CH4 emissions related primarily to the expansion of rice agriculture, domestication of ruminant animals, landfi~ling of organic wastes, and the mining and use of fossil fuels (Ehhalt, 1985; Pearman and Eraser, 1988~. A second trend from low concentrations of CH4 (350 ppbv)
Read the entire page →
From page 80...
... Each point represents measurements or (in the earlier centuries) estimates with error bars.
Read the entire page →
From page 81...
... Very little quantitative information is currently available on the long-term, integrated response of sources or sinks of atmospheric CH4 to climate change. The data that are available on the temperature sensitivity of CH4 sources from organic soils and sediments clearly indicate that CH4 emission rates increase with increasing surface temperature (Baker-Blocker et al., 1977; Crill et al., 1988~.
Read the entire page →
From page 82...
... Recent advances in environmental measurement technologies and techniques make possible, for the first time, regional- to global-scale quantification of biosphere-atmosphere interactions. The uncertainties in how CH4 sources and sinks will respond to future climate change or to socioeconomic developments that influence CH4 sources can be reduced by vigorous research programs in global tropospheric chemistry (NRC, 1984)
Read the entire page →
From page 83...
... Such improvements will require integrated ground, aircraft, and satellite measurements, which will provide accurate estimates of CH4 flux to the atmosphere at regional scales. Isotope studies using newly developed accelerator mass spectrometric techniques (Lowe et al., 1988)
Read the entire page →
From page 84...
... 1983. Methane hydrates in continental slope sediments and increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Read the entire page →

Key Terms

  • greenhouse warming
  • temperature sensitivity
  • increasing concentrations
  • climate models
  • increasing atmospheric

  • ice cores
  • global warming
  • interglacial times
  • global tropospheric
  • positive feedback

  • trace gases
  • polar ice
  • ice core
  • organic soils
  • climate warming

  • water vapor
  • methane decomposes
  • accelerator mass
  • slope sediments
  • changing climate

  • detailed temporal
  • studies using
  • enhanced greenhouse
  • warming effect
  • quantitative information

  • future climate
  • global biosphere
  • societal disruption
  • negative feedback
  • provide accurate


    • This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
    More information on Chapter Skim is available.