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The Post-2020 Surge in Global Atmospheric Methane Observed in Ground-based Observations
  • +22
  • Jennifer Wu,
  • Sherry Luo,
  • Zhao-Cheng Zeng,
  • Alex Turner,
  • Debra Wunch,
  • Omaira García,
  • Frank Hase,
  • Rigel Kivi,
  • Hirofumi Ohyama,
  • Isamu Morino,
  • Ralf Sussmann,
  • Markus Rettinger,
  • Yao Té,
  • Nicholas Michael Deutscher,
  • David W.T Griffith,
  • Kei Shiomi,
  • Cheng Liu,
  • Justus Notholt,
  • Laura T Iraci,
  • David Frank Pollard,
  • Thorsten Warneke,
  • Coleen Marie Roehl,
  • Thomas J Pongetti,
  • Stanley Sander,
  • Yuk L. Yung
Jennifer Wu
California Institute of Technology

Corresponding Author:wu.jennifer3643@gmail.com

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Sherry Luo
California Institute of Technology
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Zhao-Cheng Zeng
Peking University
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Alex Turner
University of Washington
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Debra Wunch
University of Toronto
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Omaira García
Agencia Estatal de Meteorología (AEMET), CIAI
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Frank Hase
Institut fuer Meteorologie und
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Rigel Kivi
Finnish Meteorological Institute
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Hirofumi Ohyama
National Institute for Environmental Studies
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Isamu Morino
National Institute for Environmental Studies
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Ralf Sussmann
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, IMK-IFU
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Markus Rettinger
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
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Yao Té
Laboratoire d'Etudes du Rayonnement et de la Matière en Astrophysique et Atmosphères (LERMA-IPSL)
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Nicholas Michael Deutscher
University of Wollongong
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David W.T Griffith
University of Wollongong
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Kei Shiomi
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
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Cheng Liu
University of Science and Technology of China
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Justus Notholt
Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Bremen
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Laura T Iraci
NASA Ames Research Center
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David Frank Pollard
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research
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Thorsten Warneke
University of Bremen
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Coleen Marie Roehl
California Institute of Technology
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Thomas J Pongetti
NASA-JPL
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Stanley Sander
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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Yuk L. Yung
California Institute of Technology
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Abstract

Methane (CH4) is a potent greenhouse gas with high radiative forcing and a relatively short atmospheric lifetime of around a decade. We used a decade-long dataset (2011-2022) from the Fourier transform spectrometer at the California Laboratory for Atmospheric Remote Sensing (CLARS-FTS) to quantify a dramatic increase in methane observed in 2020. We report an increase of 1.13 ppb/month starting in 2020 until the end of 2021, compared to a growth rate of 0.345 ppb/month from 2016 to 2019. The observed increase in methane concentrations in 2020 is of significant concern due to its potential contribution to global warming. The Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) is then used to examine the global geospatial variability of the increase in methane. The results suggest an approximately uniform rise in methane globally. Finally, results from a two-box model used to simulate atmospheric chemical processes of methane production and loss indicate that changes in OH alone are insufficient to explain the rise in atmospheric methane. Encouragingly, recent data from 2022 suggest a deceleration in the methane growth rate, indicating a potential slowdown in the methane increase observed in 2020.