The CASIUS Highlights issue covers the recent release from scientists at NOOA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, showing that for the second year in a row, they observed a record annual rise in atmospheric levels of methane, a powerful, heat-trapping greenhouse gas that’s the second biggest contributor to human-caused global warming after carbon dioxide.
NOOA’s data show that global emissions continue to move in the wrong direction at a rapid pace. NOOA’ scientist said, “The evidence is consistent, alarming and undeniable”. “So, it is crucial that we continue to sustain integrated and robust monitoring and verification systems to help assess the current state of the atmospheric greenhouse gas burden, as well as determine the effectiveness of future greenhouse gas emission reduction measures".
Despite international pledges to reduce emissions, climate scientists have seen no measurable progress in reducing greenhouse gas pollution.
While carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere for much longer than methane, methane is roughly 28 times more powerful at trapping heat in the atmosphere and has an important short-term influence on the rate of climate change.
- NOAA’s preliminary analysis showed atmospheric methane levels averaged 1,895.7 ppb during 2021, or around 162% greater than pre-industrial levels.
- Annual global increase of CH4 (bottom graph) shows the annual increase in atmospheric methane during 2021 was 17 parts per billion (ppb), the largest annual increase recorded since systematic measurements began in 1983.
- The increase during 2020 was 15.3 ppb.
- Meanwhile, levels of carbon dioxide also continue to increase at historically high rates. The global surface average for carbon dioxide during 2021 was 414.7 parts per million (ppm), which is an increase of 2.66 ppm over the 2020 average.
- Growth rate of CO2: The bottom graph shows annual mean carbon dioxide growth rates, based on globally averaged marine surface data, since the start of systematic monitoring in 1959. The horizontal lines indicate the decadal averages of the growth rate.
- This marks the 10th consecutive year that carbon dioxide increased by more than 2 parts per million, which represents the fastest sustained rate of increase in the 63 years since monitoring began.
- Air samples from NOAA's Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii provide important data for climate scientists around the world. On April 7, 2022, NOAA announced that analysis of data from their global sampling network showed that levels of the potent greenhouse gas methane recorded the largest annual increase ever observed in 2021, while carbon dioxide continued to increase at historically high rates. (NOAA)
- NOAA’s Global Monitoring Laboratory annually collects more than 15,000 air samples from monitoring stations around the world and analyzes them in a state-of-the-science laboratory in Boulder, Colorado. Every spring, NOAA calculates the global average levels of four primary greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and sulfur hexafluoride — observed during the previous year.