Methane levels surged in 2020 despite lockdowns
by European Space Agency, June 24, 2022, phys.org

Levels of methane, the second most important greenhouse gas in our atmosphere, continued their unrelenting rise in 2020 despite the economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

A team of scientists, from the University of Leeds, have used data from the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite to pinpoint locations with large surges of methane emissions. These findings were presented during ESA's Living Planet Symposium which took place
last month in Bonn, Germany.

Methane has a mixture of both natural and anthropogenic sources. Around 40% of methane emissions comes from natural sources, while 60% comes from anthropogenic sources such as agriculture, fossil fuel exploitation and landfills.

One of the largest sources of methane emissions comes from wetlands—an area of land that is either covered by water or saturated with water—yet there is still uncertainty in how they respond to changes in climate and short-term variations, such as
the El Niño-Southern Oscillation.

The combination of methane's high global warming potential and relatively short lifetime in our atmosphere of approximately nine years, means if we reduce our methane emissions, we can partially mitigate the human impact of climate change on a relatively
short timescale—while global emissions of carbon dioxide are reduced.

In situ methane measurements from 2020 showed the largest annual increase of methane concentrations since the 1980s, with this record surpassed in 2021. The year of 2020 was unique owing to the global pandemic, yet methane concentrations continued to
rise despite a reduction in economic activity.

Anthropogenic emissions of methane have contributed to an additional 23% to the radiative forcing—a direct measure of the amount of Earth's energy budget that is out of balance—in the troposphere since 1750.

It is not fully understood what is driving the recent trends in global methane concentrations owing to the uncertainty surrounding the sources and sinks. This is why it is important to monitor changes in atmospheric methane using satellites such as
Copernicus Sentinel-5P. The satellite maps a wide range of pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, ozone, formaldehyde, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and of course, methane.

Using observations obtained from Sentinel-5P, the team found that satellite measurements show the same increase of methane as demonstrated in surface measurements. Using the global coverage capability of Sentinel-5P, the team identified regions which
showed large increases throughout 2020.

These regions include South Sudan and Uganda in Central Africa, along with high-latitude northern regions including Canada and Russia. During 2019, emissions related to large positive rainfall anomalies from Sudd wetlands in South Sudan were found to be
over a quarter of the growth in global emissions.

The positive rainfall anomalies over South Sudan and Uganda continued into 2020. In addition to large amounts of precipitation, there was a high rate of dam releases from Lake Victoria resulting in increased water flow into the White Nile which feeds the
Ugandan and Sudd wetlands.

The data obtained from Sentinel-5P indicates that 2020 was likely to have been a period of large methane fluxes in these regions. Satellite data was also compared with a chemical transport model called TOMCAT, which simulates methane in our atmosphere.

In South Sudan, there is a mismatch in the seasonal cycle between the TOMCAT model and the satellite observations, which previous studies have related to the wetlands model used in the study. This implies that wetlands could be a dominant factor in
driving the large methane concentrations over South Sudan during 2020.

In Canada, high concentrations of methane in 2020 are found in the east, where more wetlands are situated. The regions of strong methane growth measured in these satellite observations indicate that wetlands may have been significant contributors to the
large rise in methane during 2020, however work using TOMCAT is still ongoing to further explore these findings.

Emily Dowd, Ph.D. student from the University of Leeds, said, "Copernicus Sentinel-5P observations have shown that global wetlands continue to be a large contributor to the atmospheric methane budget, and it is important that further work is carried out
to fully understand how they will respond to changes in our climate."

https://phys.org/news/2022-06-methane-surged-lockdowns.html

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On Monday, June 27, 2022 at 3:06:41 PM UTC+8, David P. wrote:

Methane levels surged in 2020 despite lockdowns
by European Space Agency, June 24, 2022, phys.org

Levels of methane, the second most important greenhouse gas in our atmosphere, continued their unrelenting rise in 2020 despite the economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

A team of scientists, from the University of Leeds, have used data from the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite to pinpoint locations with large surges of methane emissions. These findings were presented during ESA's Living Planet Symposium which took

place last month in Bonn, Germany.

Methane has a mixture of both natural and anthropogenic sources. Around 40% of methane emissions comes from natural sources, while 60% comes from anthropogenic sources such as agriculture, fossil fuel exploitation and landfills.

One of the largest sources of methane emissions comes from wetlands—an area of land that is either covered by water or saturated with water—yet there is still uncertainty in how they respond to changes in climate and short-term variations, such as

the El Niño-Southern Oscillation.

The combination of methane's high global warming potential and relatively short lifetime in our atmosphere of approximately nine years, means if we reduce our methane emissions, we can partially mitigate the human impact of climate change on a

relatively short timescale—while global emissions of carbon dioxide are reduced.

In situ methane measurements from 2020 showed the largest annual increase of methane concentrations since the 1980s, with this record surpassed in 2021. The year of 2020 was unique owing to the global pandemic, yet methane concentrations continued to

rise despite a reduction in economic activity.

Anthropogenic emissions of methane have contributed to an additional 23% to the radiative forcing—a direct measure of the amount of Earth's energy budget that is out of balance—in the troposphere since 1750.

It is not fully understood what is driving the recent trends in global methane concentrations owing to the uncertainty surrounding the sources and sinks. This is why it is important to monitor changes in atmospheric methane using satellites such as

Copernicus Sentinel-5P. The satellite maps a wide range of pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, ozone, formaldehyde, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and of course, methane.

Using observations obtained from Sentinel-5P, the team found that satellite measurements show the same increase of methane as demonstrated in surface measurements. Using the global coverage capability of Sentinel-5P, the team identified regions which

showed large increases throughout 2020.

These regions include South Sudan and Uganda in Central Africa, along with high-latitude northern regions including Canada and Russia. During 2019, emissions related to large positive rainfall anomalies from Sudd wetlands in South Sudan were found to

be over a quarter of the growth in global emissions.

The positive rainfall anomalies over South Sudan and Uganda continued into 2020. In addition to large amounts of precipitation, there was a high rate of dam releases from Lake Victoria resulting in increased water flow into the White Nile which feeds

the Ugandan and Sudd wetlands.

The data obtained from Sentinel-5P indicates that 2020 was likely to have been a period of large methane fluxes in these regions. Satellite data was also compared with a chemical transport model called TOMCAT, which simulates methane in our atmosphere.

In South Sudan, there is a mismatch in the seasonal cycle between the TOMCAT model and the satellite observations, which previous studies have related to the wetlands model used in the study. This implies that wetlands could be a dominant factor in

driving the large methane concentrations over South Sudan during 2020.

In Canada, high concentrations of methane in 2020 are found in the east, where more wetlands are situated. The regions of strong methane growth measured in these satellite observations indicate that wetlands may have been significant contributors to

the large rise in methane during 2020, however work using TOMCAT is still ongoing to further explore these findings.

Emily Dowd, Ph.D. student from the University of Leeds, said, "Copernicus Sentinel-5P observations have shown that global wetlands continue to be a large contributor to the atmospheric methane budget, and it is important that further work is carried

out to fully understand how they will respond to changes in our climate."

https://phys.org/news/2022-06-methane-surged-lockdowns.html

The biggest methane producers are from 1. India from human wastes openly defecated deposited by humans on anywhere on open grounds and fields, as India does not have sewerage system. 2. N Zealand and Australia from its wastes openly defecated and
deposited by cows, sheep and goats.

In comparison, methane produced by countries from growing of agricultures like rice and vegetable fields are nothing in comparison to animals and humans. Agricultures are agricultural growing emissions and not animals and humans emissions. Agricultural
produce does not pollute and contribute very little to global warming in comparisons to animals and humans without use of sewage system. Agricultural methane does not suffocate nor hurt the lungs and breaths and brain of human beings at all.

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stoney wrote:

David P. wrote:

Methane levels surged in 2020 despite lockdowns
by European Space Agency, June 24, 2022, phys.org
[....]
https://phys.org/news/2022-06-methane-surged-lockdowns.html

The biggest methane producers are from 1. India from human wastes openly defecated deposited by humans on anywhere on open grounds and fields, as India does not have sewerage system. 2. N Zealand and Australia from its wastes openly defecated and

deposited by cows, sheep and goats.

In comparison, methane produced by countries from growing of agricultures like rice and vegetable fields are nothing in comparison to animals and humans. Agricultures are agricultural growing emissions and not animals and humans emissions. Agricultural

produce does not pollute and contribute very little to global warming in comparisons to animals and humans without use of sewage system. Agricultural methane does not suffocate nor hurt the lungs and breaths and brain of human beings at all.
----------------
Which Industries Are the Biggest Sources of Methane Emissions?
BY EARTH.ORG, Jan 29, 2021

Here is a more detailed breakdown of methane emissions:
Wetlands- 194Mt
Agriculture- 145Mt
Energy- 134Mt (broken down into: gas- 45Mt, 39Mt, 39Mt, 11Mt)
Anthropogenic- 68Mt
Other (natural)- 39Mt
Biomass burning- 16Mt

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), two characteristics determine the impact of different greenhouse gases on the climate: the length of time they remain in the atmosphere and their ability to absorb energy. Methane has a much shorter
atmospheric lifetime than CO2 (around 12 years compared with centuries for CO2) but it, as mentioned above, is a much more potent greenhouse gas, absorbing much more energy while it exists in the atmosphere.

One way to combine these factors to estimate the effect on global warming is the global warming potential (GWP) metric, used to express a tonne of a greenhouse-gas emitted in CO2 equivalent terms, in order to provide a single measure of total greenhouse-
gas emissions (in CO2-eq).

The GWP for methane is between 84-87 when considering its impact over a 20-year timeframe (GWP20) and between 28-36 when considering its impact over a 100-year timeframe (GWP100). This means that one tonne of methane can be considered to be equivalent to
28 to 36 tonnes of CO2 if looking at its impact over 100 years.

Governments need to work to mitigate methane emissions, especially from difficult-to-detect sources like methane leaks. Satellites are very effective at finding these leaks, and are becoming increasingly accurate and effective.

https://earth.org/biggest-sources-of-methane-emissions/

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