Very Strong Atmospheric Methane Growth in the 4 Years 2014-2017: Implications for the Paris Agreement

E. G. Nisbet , M. R. Manning , E. J. Dlugokencky , R. E. Fisher , D. Lowry , S. E. Michel , C. Lund Myhre , S. M. Platt , G. Allen , Philippe Bousquet (1, 2) , R. Brownlow , M. Cain , J. L. France , O. Hermansen , R. Hossaini , A. E. Jones , I. Levin , A. C. Manning , G. Myhre , J. A. Pyle , B. H. Vaughn , N. J. Warwick , J. W. C. White

1 LSCE - Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement [Gif-sur-Yvette]
2 SATINV - Modélisation INVerse pour les mesures atmosphériques et SATellitaires

Atmospheric methane grew very rapidly in 2014 (12.7 ± 0.5 ppb/year), 2015 (10.1 ± 0.7 ppb/year), 2016 (7.0 ± 0.7 ppb/year), and 2017 (7.7 ± 0.7 ppb/year), at rates not observed since the 1980s. The increase in the methane burden began in 2007, with the mean global mole fraction in remote surface background air rising from about 1,775 ppb in 2006 to 1,850 ppb in 2017. Simultaneously the ¹³C/¹²C isotopic ratio (expressed as δ¹³C_CH4) has shifted, has shifted, now trending negative for more than a decade. The causes of methane's recent mole fraction increase are therefore either a change in the relative proportions (and totals) of emissions from biogenic and thermogenic and pyrogenic sources, especially in the tropics and subtropics, or a decline in the atmospheric sink of methane, or both. Unfortunately, with limited measurement data sets, it is not currently possible to be more definitive. The climate warming impact of the observed methane increase over the past decade, if continued at >5 ppb/year in the coming decades, is sufficient to challenge the Paris Agreement, which requires sharp cuts in the atmospheric methane burden. However, anthropogenic methane emissions are relatively very large and thus offer attractive targets for rapid reduction, which are essential if the Paris Agreement aims are to be attained.

Mots clés: atmospheric methane; methane isotopes; wetland methane emissions; fossil fuel methane emissions; OH destruction of methane; Paris Agreement

Domaines: Planète et Univers [physics]

E. G. Nisbet, M. R. Manning, E. J. Dlugokencky, R. E. Fisher, D. Lowry, et al.. Very Strong Atmospheric Methane Growth in the 4 Years 2014-2017: Implications for the Paris Agreement. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 2019, 33, pp.318-342. ⟨10.1029/2018GB006009⟩. ⟨insu-03721882⟩