Methane and the greenhouse effect: the first direct evidence
Methane and the greenhouse effect: the first direct evidence
Nathalie Mayer - Journalist
We often hear that methane is a greenhouse gas 25 times more powerful than CO 2 . However, no direct measure of the phenomenon had yet been realized. Today, thanks to American researchers, it's finally done.
"For a long time, laboratory measurements, theories and models have led us to suspect that methane is a major greenhouse effect , " says Dan Feldman, a researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (USA). United). "Today, we bring an experimental proof. "
Remember that some gases absorb a greater or lesser part of the energy emitted by the Earth , thus retaining heat in the atmosphere . We are talking about greenhouse gases . As their atmospheric concentration increases, the greenhouse effect is expected to increase as well. However, in the case of methane , the phenomenon had never been observed outside the laboratory.
This graph shows the methane greenhouse effect measured over 10 years at a site in northern Oklahoma (USA). It is to be compared with the known fact that methane concentrations in the atmosphere were stable in the early 2000s and then increased. Berkeley Lab
Better understand the link between greenhouse gases and global warming
Thanks to particularly accurate measurements and decades of expertise, Berkeley Lab scientists have finally been able to measure directly how increasing methane levels in our atmosphere are leading to a growing greenhouse effect.
For this, they focused on particular wavelengths on which methane is said to exert its effect. To avoid errors, they have also relied on parallel measurements of possible confounding factors such as water vapor . Their results should provide a better understanding of the relationship between the atmospheric concentration of different greenhouse gases and global warming .
Source: futura-sciences.com
Reproduction rights CC BY 4.0 License (Attribution - Sharing under the same conditions)
I follow all the people who follows me! (If I have time, enough bandwidth and steem power...)
My 10 favorite posts:
Beautiful spring colored landscape in Japan!!
Marvelous landscape with mountains and blue ice!!
Connection of sea level and groundwater missing link in climate response
Vegan and sports: how to adapt my diet? - Vegan et sportive : comment adapter mon alimentation ?
Why you should never, ever cut your hair
Clean up with ... a foam - Dépolluer grâce à... une mousse
All the pictures posted here are free pictures found on free websites, public instagram accounts or from websites allowing the sharing of their posts
Reproduction rights CC BY 4.0 License (Attribution - Sharing under the same conditions)
Reply to this comment if you want me to upvote and resteem your last blog post to my 32,600+ followers. Then whenever you want me to upvote and resteem another blog post go to my Comments and reply to my last comment. It's free. @a-0-0 😊