Proposals to place
harsh restrictions
on methane emissions.
because of warming fears,
are not justified by facts.
Atmospheric methane
(CH4)
is a greenhouse gas
in Earth's atmosphere,
along with water vapor.
Water vapor
is the primary
greenhouse gas.
Greenhouse
gases disrupt
our planet's ability
to cool itself from
the heat received
from the sun.
Greenhouse gases
disrupt cooling
( upward
thermal
radiation
rising up
from the Earth
into space ).
Exactly how much,
no one knows.
For current
concentrations of
greenhouse gases,
the warming effect
in the troposphere,
per added
methane CH4
molecule,
is estimated
at about
30 times larger,
than the effect
per added
carbon-dioxide
(CO2) molecule.
This is due to:
-- The heavy prior
saturation of the
absorption bands
(specific wavelengths
of infrared energy)
of the greenhouse
gas, CO2.
-- The rate
of increase
of CO2 molecules,
of about +2.3 ppm/year.
( ppm = part per million )
is about 300 times
larger than the
rate of increase
of CH4 molecules,
which has been
+0.0076 ppm/year,
since 2008.
So the contribution
of methane is about
one tenth that of
carbon dioxide.
Methane, CH4, is the
simplest hydrocarbon
molecule.
It has a single
carbon atom, C,
bonded to four
hydrogen
atoms, H.
Natural-gas
is mostly
methane.
Large
amounts
of methane
are found in
some coal
seams.
Methane is
also produced
by decomposition
of organic matter
as marsh gas.
Huge amounts
of methane
can be found
as methane
clathrates in
seafloor
sediments,
Arctic tundra,
and other
locations.
Methane is produced
in the digestive tracts
of ruminants, like cattle
and sheep/
Bacteria there will
convert some
cellulose
from plant material
into nutritionally useful
fatty acids and other
compounds, with
methane as a
byproduct.
Similar bacteria
in the
digestive tracts
of termites
also produce
large amounts
of methane.
Methane has a half life
of about 10 years
in the atmosphere,
before it is oxidized
to carbon dioxide
and water.
The reason that the
per-molecule warming
( aka "forcing" )
of methane is some
30 times larger than
that of carbon dioxide
for current
concentrations,
is saturation of the
absorption bands.
“Saturation” means that
adding more molecules
causes very little change
in Earth’s thermal radiation
(cooling off) up into space.
The current density
of CO2 molecules
is some 200 times greater
than that of CH4 molecules,
so the absorption bands
of CO2 are much more
saturated than those
of CH4 absorption bands
( bands are infrared energy
wavelengths that each
greenhouse gas affects ).
see chart below
CH4 is only called a
“super greenhouse gas”
because there is so little
in the atmosphere,
compared to CO2.
