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The Role of Northern Ecosystems in the Global Methane Budget

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Global Change and Arctic Terrestrial Ecosystems

Part of the book series: Ecological Studies ((ECOLSTUD,volume 124))

Abstract

The concentration of atmospheric methane has doubled over the last century from a preindustrial concentration of 0.7ppmv (parts per million by volume) to the current level of 1.7ppmv (Bolin et al., 1994; Khalil and Rasmussen, 1987). Blake and Rowland (1988) estimated the globally averaged increase of atmospheric CH4 between 1978 and 1987 to nearly 16ppbv (parts per billion by volume) yr-1; however, this increase declined substantially during the late 1980s to around lOppbv yr-1 (Bolin et al., 1994). Although the trend in CH4 increase appears to have recently declined (Khalil and Rasmussen, 1992), data from 1993 suggest that atmospheric CH4 growth rates are on the rise again (Bolin et al., 1994).

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Authors
  1. George L. Vourlitis
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  2. Walter C. Oechel
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Global Change Research Group, San Diego State University, 92182, San Diego, CA, USA

    Walter C. Oechel

  2. Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, Sheffield Centre for Arctic Ecology, University of Sheffield, S1D 5BR, Sheffield, UK

    Terry V. Callaghan

  3. Department of Vertebrate Zoology and General Ecology, Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia

    Tagir G. Gilmanov

  4. Arctic Adaptation Division, Canadian Climate Centre, Downsview, Ontario, Canada

    Barrie Maxwell

  5. Department of Systematic Botany, University of Göteborg, S-413 19, Göteborg, Sweden

    Ulf Molau

  6. Institute of Biology, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland

    Bjartmar Sveinbjörnsson

  7. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alaska, 99775, Anchorage, AK, USA

    Bjartmar Sveinbjörnsson

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Vourlitis, G.L., Oechel, W.C. (1997). The Role of Northern Ecosystems in the Global Methane Budget. In: Oechel, W.C., et al. Global Change and Arctic Terrestrial Ecosystems. Ecological Studies, vol 124. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2240-8_15

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