Title
Influence of Atmospheric Transport on Estimates of Variability in the Global Methane Burden
Author
Pandey, S.
Houweling, S.
Krol, M.
Aben, I.
Nechita-Banda, N.
Thoning, K.
Rockmann, T.
Yin, Y.
Segers, A.J.
Dlugokencky, E.J.
Publication year
2019
Abstract
We quantify the impact of atmospheric transport and limited marine boundary layer sampling on changes in global and regional methane burdens estimate using tracer transport model simulations with annually repeating methane emissions and sinks but varying atmospheric transport patterns. We find the 1σ error due to this transport and sampling effect on annual global methane increases to be 1.11A ppb/year and on zonal growth rates to be 3.8A ppb/year, indicating that it becomes more critical at smaller spatiotemporal scales. We also find that the trends in inter-hemispheric and inter-polar difference of methane are significantly influenced by the effect. Contrary to a negligible trend in the inter-hemispheric difference of measurements, we find, after adjusting for the transport and sampling, a trend of 0.37A A±A 0.06A ppb/year. This is consistent with the emission trend from a 3-D inversion of the measurements, suggesting a faster increase in emissions in the Northern Hemisphere than in the Southern Hemisphere. © 2019. The Authors.
Subject
Atmospheric burden
CH 4 emissions
interhemispheric difference
Methane
TM5
Atmospheric boundary layer
Atmospheric chemistry
Methane
Atmospheric transport
Interhemispheric difference
Marine boundary layers
Methane emissions
Northern Hemispheres
Southern Hemisphere
Spatio-temporal scale
Tracer transport
Atmospheric movements
To reference this document use:
http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:71962b20-1db0-4435-84fe-871f74f45fc5
TNO identifier
865634
Publisher
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
ISSN
0094-8276
Source
Geophysical Research Letters
Document type
article