Abstract
At present the amount of methane removed from the atmosphere each year is about 500 Tg/yr or more than 90% of that released into the atmosphere each year. Most of the methane is removed by reacting with tropospheric OH radicals; lesser amounts are removed by soils and stratospheric oxidation by OH, O(1D), and minor reactions. This chapter is on the removal rate of CH4 and its variability in space and time.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bartlett, K.B., R.C. Harriss. 1993. Review and assessment of methane emissions from wetlands. Chemosphere, 26: 261–320.
Brasseur, G., M.H. Hitchman, S. Walters, M. Dymek, E. Falise, M. Pirre. 1990. An interactive chemical dynamical radiative two-dimensional model of the middle atmosphere. J. Geophys. Res., 95 (D5):5, 639–5, 655.
Bush, Y.A., A.L. Schmeltekopf, F.C. Fehsenfeld, D.L. Albritton, J.R. McAfee, P.D. Goldan, E.E. Ferguson. 1978. Stratospheric measurements of methane at several latitudes. Geophys. Res. Lett., 5:, 1027–1, 029.
Crutzen, P.J., U. Schmailzl. 1983. Chemical budgets of the stratosphere. Planet. Space Sci., 31 (9):1, 009–1, 032.
DeMore, W.B., S.P. Sander, C.J. Howard, A.R. Ravishankara, D.M. Golden, C.E. Kolb, R.F. Hampson, M.J. Kurylo, M.J. Molina. 1992. Chemical Kinetics and Photochemical Data for Use in Stratospheric Modeling. NASA Evaluation No. 10.
Ehhalt, D.H., L.E. Heidt, E.A. Martell. 1972. The concentrations of atmospheric methane between 44 and 62 kilometers altitude. J. Geophys. Res., 77: 2, 1932, 196.
Fabian, P., R. Borchers, G. Flentje, W.A. Matthews, W. Seiler, H. Giehl, K. Bunse, F. Müller, U. Schmidt, A. Volz, A. Khedim, F.J. Johnen. 1981. The vertical distribution of stable trace gases at mid-latitudes. J. Geophys. Res., 86 (C6):5, 179–5, 184.
Fung, I., J. John, J. Lerner, E. Matthews, M. Prather, L.P. Steele, P.J. Fraser. 1991. Three-dimensional model synthesis of the global methane cycle. J. Geophys. Res., 96 (D7):13, 033–13, 065.
Gunson, M.R., C.B. Farmer, R.H. Norton, R. Zander, C.P. Rinsland, J.H. Shaw, B.-C. Gao. 1990. Measurements of CH4, N2O, CO, H2O, and 03 in the middle atmosphere by the Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy
Experiment on Spacelab 3. J. Geophys. Res., 95 (D9):13,867–13,882.
Hahn, C.J., S.G. Warren, J. London, R.L. Jenne, R.M. Chervin. 1987. Climatological Data for Clouds over the Globe from Surface Observations. Report NDP-026, Carbon Dioxide Information Center, Oak Ridge, TN.
Jones, R.L., J.A. Pyle. 1984. Observations of CH4 and N2O by the NIMBUS 7 SAMS: a comparison with in situ data and two-dimensional numerical model calculations. J. Geophys. Res., 89 (D4):5, 263–5, 279.
Khalil, M.A.K., R.A. Rasmussen. 1983. Sources, sinks, and seasonal cycles of atmospheric methane. J. Geophys. Res., 88 (C9):5, 131–5, 144.
Khalil, M.A.K., R.A. Rasmussen. 1985. Causes of increasing atmospheric methane: depletion of hydroxyl radicals and the rise of emissions. Atmos. Environ., 19:397–407.
Khalil, M.A.K., R.A. Rasmussen. 1990. Atmospheric methane: recent global trends. Environ. Sci. Technol., 24: 549–553.
Khalil, M.A.K., R.A. Rasmussen. 1992. Forest hydrocarbon emissions: relationships between fluxes and ambient concentrations. J. Air & Waste Manage. Assoc., 42: 810–813.
Khalil, M.A.K., R.A. Rasmussen. 1993. Decreasing trend of methane: unpredictability of future concentrations. Chemosphere, 26: 803–814.
Lelieveld, J., P.J. Crutzen, C. Brühl. 1993. Climate effects of atmospheric methane. Chemosphere, 26: 739–768.
Levine, J.S., C.P. Rinsland, G.M. Tennille. 1985. The photochemistry of methane and carbon monoxide in the troposphere in 1950 and 1985. Nature, 318: 254–257.
Lu, Y. 1993. Model calculations of radiative transfer and tropospheric chemistry. Ph.D. dissertation, Oregon Graduate Institute, Beaverton, OR.
Lu, Y., M.A.K. Khalil. 1991. Tropospheric OH: model calculations of spatial, temporal, and secular variations. Chemosphere, 23: 397–444.
Lu, Y., M.A.K. Khalil. 1992. Model calculation of night-time atmospheric OH. Tellus, 44B:106–113.
Madronich, S., C. Granier. 1992. Impact of recent total ozone changes on tropospheric ozone photodissociation, hydroxyl radicals and methane trends. Geophys. Res. Lett., 19: 465–467.
Matthews, E. 1983. Global vegetation and land use: new high-resolution data bases for climate studies. J. Climate Appl. Met., 22: 474–487.
Matthews, E. 1984. Vegetation, land-use and seasonal albedo data sets: documentation of archived data tape. NASA Technical Memorandum 86107, Goddard Space Flight Center, New York, U.S.A.
NOAA/CMDL (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory Flask Sampling Program). 1990. In: Trends ‘80, A Compendium of Data on Global Change (T.A. Boden, P. Kanciruk, and M.P. Farrell, eds.), 148–189. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge, TN, USA, ORNLJCDIAC-36.
Ojima, D.S., D.W. Valentine, A.R. Mosier, W.J. Parton, D.S. Schimel. 1993. Effect of land use change on methane oxidation in temperate forest and grassland soils. Chemosphere, 26 (1–4): 675–685.
Pinto, J., M.A.K. Khalil. 1991. The stability of tropospheric OH during ice ages, inter-glacial epochs and modern times. Tellus, 43B: 347–352.
Prather, M., C.M. Spivakovsky. 1990. Tropospheric OH and the lifetimes of hydrochlorofluorocarbons. J. Geophys. Res., 95 (D11):18, 723–18, 729.
Rasmussen, R.A., M.A.K. Khalil. 1986. Atmospheric trace gases: trends and distributions over the last decade. Science, 232: 1623–1624.
Schmidt, U., A. Khedim, D. Knapsa, G. Kulessa, F.J. Johnen. 1984. Stratospheric trace gas distributions observed in different seasons. Adv. Space Res., 4 (4): 131–134.
Schmidt, U., G. Kulessa, E. Klein, E.-P. Röth, P. Fabian, and R. Borchers. 1987. Intercomparison of balloon-borne cryogenic whole air samplers during the MAP/GLOBUS 1983 campaign. Planet. Space Sci., 35: 647–656.
Spivakovsky, C.M., R. Yevich, J.A. Logan, S.C. Wofsy, M.B. McElroy, M.J. Prather. 1990. Tropospheric OH in a three-dimensional chemical tracer model: an assessment based on observations of CH3CC13. J. Geophys. Res., 95 (D11):18, 441–18, 471.
Steele, L.P., P.J. Fraser, R.A. Rasmussen, M.A.K. Khalil, T.J. Conway, A.J. Crawford, R.H. Gammon, K.A. Masarie, K.W. Thoning. 1987. The global distribution of methane in the troposphere. J. Atmos. Chem., 5: 125–171.
Steudler, P.A., R.D. Bowden, J.M. Melilo, J.D. Aber. 1989. Influence of nitrogen fertilization on methane uptake in temperate forest soils. Nature, 341: 314–316.
Taylor, F.W. A. Dudhia, C.D. Rodgers. 1989. Proposed reference models for nitrous oxide and methane in the middle atmosphere. In: Handbook for MAP, Vol. 31. (G.M. Keating, ed.), 67–79.
Thompson, A.M., R.J. Cicerone. 1986. Possible perturbations to atmospheric CO, CH4, and OH. J. Geophys. Res., 91 (D10):10, 853–10, 864.
Thompson, A.M. 1992. The oxidizing capacity of the Earth’s atmosphere: probable past and future changes. Science, 256:1, 157–1, 165.
Vaghjiani, G.L., A.R. Ravishankara. 1991. New measurement of the rate coefficient for the reaction of OH with methane. Nature, 350: 406–408.
Warneck, P. 1988. Chemistry of the Natural Atmosphere. Vol. 41, International Geophysics Series, Academic Press, Inc., San Diego, CA, USA.
Weisenstein, D.K., M.K.W. Ko, N.-D. Sze. 1992. The chlorine budget of the present-day atmosphere: a modeling study. J. Geophys. Res., 97 (D2):2, 547–2, 559.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1993 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Khalil, M.A.K., Shearer, M.J., Rasmussen, R.A. (1993). Methane Sinks Distribution. In: Khalil, M.A.K. (eds) Atmospheric Methane: Sources, Sinks, and Role in Global Change. NATO ASI Series, vol 13. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-84605-2_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-84605-2_9
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-84607-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-84605-2
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive