Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas. Each molecule of methane—CH4—is equivalent to 84 molecules of carbon dioxide, according to Climate Change Connection.
An article at Phys.Org published on 3 February 2025 is titled Satellite data analysis uncovers top 10 persistent methane sources. Here’s the lede: “A list of the top 10 global regions where natural or anthropogenic sources emit methane on a continuous, ‘persistent’ basis was recently published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.”
“Four paragraphs into the article at Phys.Org, we are informed that the research focused not on oil and gas operations, coal mines, or poorly managed landfills. These so-called “super-emitters” release disproportionately large amounts of methane during short bursts. In contrast, this research focused on more-or-less constant methane sources. According to Claus Zehner, the European Space Agency’s Mission Manager for the satellite Sentinel-5P, “Sentinel-5P is currently the only satellite that provides the feasibility to detect methane sources on a global scale and on a daily basis.” Sentinel-5P was launched in 2017 and it carries the state-of-the-art Tropomi instrument. This instrument is used to map trace gases, including methane.”
“Beneath a section titled “Why is methane important?”, we are informed that methane is the second most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide. It is found naturally in the atmosphere, although its steady increase in atmospheric concentration is driving planetary warming. Whereas methane was found in Earth’s atmosphere at 680 to 790 parts per billion until 1850, it has increased to more than 1,900 parts per billion. Furthermore, there has been a significant increase in anthropogenic methane emissions during the last two decades.”
Everything above was sourced from my friend and colleague Professor Guy McPherson’s blog piece hyper linked below.
Science Snippets: Responding to Persistent Methane Sources
Subscribers can interact with Guy or support his work materially on Substack.
Over a decade ago Dr Natalia Shakova et al warned about a 50 giga tonne release of methane could happen at any time. In one of his interviews Professor Pater Wadhams said he thought it could be 100’s of giga tonnes! We’re all surprised that we haven’t seen it happen at scale in the Arctic. A dump of that scale would decimate crops within months because methane doesn’t have the same lag time between release and the consequences reverberating through the atmosphere!
I’ve recently written about methane clathrate discharges in the Antarctic embedded following. Methane Clathrates Erupting in Antarctica
“An international team of marine biologists has documented the highest known count of deep-sea species living in methane seeps off Costa Rica’s Pacific coast.”
Nearly 500 Species of Deep-Sea Dwellers Documented at Costa Rican Methane Seeps
“A major leak of a greenhouse gas from the Nord Stream pipeline was far more significant than first realised, according to new research involving scientists from the University of Leeds.
An international team of 67 researchers, including four from Leeds’ School of Earth and Environment, has now revealed the true scope of the leak in 2022 – the largest single release of methane ever recorded.
Emissions from the pipeline which transports natural gas from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea were found to be nearly double some initial estimates, with approximately 465,000 metric tons of methane released into the atmosphere – the equivalent of eight million cars driven for a year. The results of the research are published today (15 January 2025) in the journal Nature
True scope of Nord Stream pipeline leak revealed
Kevin Hester 