Just a short letter today, calling attention to the problem of an increasing rate of growth in the level of methane in the atmosphere. This chart takes it through September of 2021. A pattern of increasing acceleration over the past 15 years clearly stands out:
Scientist are scrambling to get at the roots of this problem, which is difficult because there are so many different sources and all of them are hard to measure with confidence. A study that was issued two weeks ago has some of the latest thinking on this subject. Keep in mind the fact that burning methane does not add directly to that level but does make a huge difference in annual additions to the level of CO2 in the atmosphere as a by-product. Also, remember that natural gas is a “clean” type of fossil fuel. Compared with the CO2 by-products of coal and oil, methane’s effect on global warming is exacerbated by the fact that no meaningful amount of sulfur compounds are emitted, along with their ultimate cooling effect via reduced solar radiation. https://theconversation.com/methane-in-the-atmosphere-is-at-an-all-time-high-heres-what-it-means-for-climate-change-174908
The Russians, with the help of China, are giving us a good lesson in today’s desperately important human need for burning gas, now that the new pipeline between these two countries is operable and a 30-year contract has been signed—with payment in euros. https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2022-02-04/exclusive-russia-and-china-agree-30-year-gas-deal-using-new-pipeline-source. It’s hard to read this as any kind of slowdown signal, except that the quest for alternatives will suddenly get very serious everywhere else.
Carl