The number of stations
monitoring atmospheric methane concentrations worldwide is very few.
Not exact matches
The first clues appeared in 2007, when NOAA researchers noticed occasional plumes of pollutants including
methane, butane and propane in air samples taken from a 300 - metre - high
atmospheric monitoring tower north of Denver.
The Arctic
Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP) carbon assessment published in 2009 highlighted the disparity in
methane emissions estimated by extrapolating data from wetlands, lakes, and coastal waters underlain by permafrost (32 to 112 Tg CH4 yr - 1) and estimates based on spatial and temporal variability of
atmospheric methane concentrations (15 to 50 Tg CH4 yr - 1).
-- Readings from the
monitoring stations at Barrow do in fact show huge increases in
atmospheric methane levels
If permafrost soils begin to release climatically significant amounts of
methane, it should be detectable through
monitoring atmospheric concentrations of
methane using a network of
monitoring stations around the world, but the current network is too sparse.
A combination of historical ice core data and air
monitoring instruments reveals a consistent trend: global
atmospheric methane concentrations have risen sharply in the past 2000 years.
The researchers were able to discern agricultural
methane from other sources of
methane by looking at the gas» isotopic signatures — or the ratio of various carbon isotopes — using data from
atmospheric monitoring stations around the world.