Methane emissions to atmosphere set new record in 2021, survey says

Thursday (7), ministry United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced methane emissions into the atmosphere have increased significantly and new record in 2021. According to NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, the increase in emissions worldwide continues to grow at a steady and alarming rate.

This is the second consecutive year of high growth in emissions of methane, the greenhouse gas responsible for some of the human-caused global warming. According to NOAA research, in 2021, the annual increase in atmospheric methane was recorded as 17 parts per billion (ppb), the highest since measurements began in 1983 – in 2020 the increase reached 15.3 ppb.

“Reducing fossil fuel methane emissions is an important step and an easy fruit to reduce atmospheric methane levels,” said researcher from the NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory and the University of Colorado, Boulder, Xin “Lindsay” Lan.

the planet is at risk

Carbon dioxide levels rose to 414.7 parts per million (ppm), representing a 2.66 increase from the previous year. While carbon dioxide remains active for much longer, methane is about 25 times stronger at retaining heat in the atmosphere and may offer a viable option for cleaning the atmosphere in the short term – atmospheric methane will disappear in about 9 years.

It is important to note that methane comes from different sources such as industry, transportation, use of fossil fuels, digestion of animals and even the decomposition of organic matter in wetlands.

NOAA’s Global Monitoring Laboratory is responsible for collecting more than 15,000 air samples from around the world each year. So the US department can measure global levels of essential greenhouse gases such as methane, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and sulfur hexafluoride.

“It will take a lot of work to reverse these trends, and frankly, that’s not happening,” said Ariel Stein, director of the Global Monitoring Lab.