Levels
of methane increasing rapidly in the Arctic
The levels of the greenhouse gas methane are increasing more than expected at measuring stations both on Svalbard and in Southern Norway.
Breinosa
is seen from the research Zeppelin Observatory that is operated by
operated by the Norwegian Polar Institute and Norwegian Institute for
Air Research in Svalbard in Norway October 17, 2015. Anna Filipova
/REUTERS
1
March, 2016
“We
see an alarming development,” senior researcher Cathrine Lund Myhre
at the Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU) told the Norwegian
News Agency NTB, via NRK.
The
levels of methane increased sharply from 2013 to 2014, and
preliminary results from measurements in 2015 indicate a continued
strong increase. The results and measurements show that the
concentration in the atmosphere of the main greenhouse gases with
high anthropogenic emissions has been increasing over the period of
investigation since 2001.
The
levels of methane, which is the second most important greenhouse gas
from human activities after CO₂, is the highest ever measured.
Compared
with the average global increase, the levels of methane have gone far
more up at the Norwegian weather stations, the new
report “Monitoring of greenhouse gases and aerosols at the
Zeppelin Observatory, Svalbard, and Birkenes Observatory, Aust-Agder,
Norway” shows.
The
measurements at Zeppelin Observatory characterise the development in
the Arctic region, and Birkenes Observatory is located in an area in
southern Norway most affected by long-range transport of pollutants.
In
addition to the record high levels of methane, the Norwegian
measurements also show record levels of CO₂, but this development
was, unlike methane, expected.
Director
of the Norwegian Environment Directorate, Ellen Hambro, said that the
development gives reason for concern.
“It
is very disturbing that the concentration of methane and CO₂ are
increasing,” Hambro said. “It shows once again the urgency of
implementing measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions both in the
short and long term.”
“If
the reason is release of methane from thawing permafrost and from the
Arctic Ocean, then it is alarming. It will give climate change a
self-reinforcing effect,” Hambro said.
Many
sources for more methane
It
is unclear where the increased methane comes from.
“We
do not know whether the increase is due to emissions from human
activities, or whether climate change has initiated processes in
nature that gives more methane into the atmosphere,” said Myhre,
who heads the national monitoring program. “It is therefore very
important that we can verify the changes to be able to detect them in
time.”
The
main sources of methane include boreal and tropical wetlands, rice
paddies, emission from ruminant animals, biomass burning, and
extraction and combustion of fossil fuels. Further, methane is the
principal component of natural gas and e.g. leakage from pipelines;
off-shore and on-shore installations are a known source of
atmospheric methane.
The
distribution between natural and anthropogenic sources is
approximately 40% natural sources, and 60% of the sources are direct
result of anthropogenic emissions.
Of
natural sources there is a large unknown potential methane source
under the ocean floor, so called methane hydrates and seeps. Further,
a large unknown amount of carbon is bounded in the permafrost layer
in Siberia and North America and this might be released as methane if
the permafrost layer melts as a feedback to climate change.
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