Abstract
METHANE is an important greenhouse gas, whose concentration in the troposphere is steadily increasing. To estimate the flux of methane into the atmosphere and its atmospheric lifetime, its rate of removal needs to be accurately determined. The main loss process for atmospheric methane is the reaction with the hydroxyl radical OH. We have measured the rate coefficient for this reaction in carefully controlled experiments and found it to be smaller than currently accepted values. Our results indicate a longer CH4 lifetime (by ∼25%) and a correspondingly smaller flux (by ∼100 Tg CH4 yr−1) than previously calculated.
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Vaghjiani, G., Ravishankara, A. New measurement of the rate coefficient for the reaction of OH with methane. Nature 350, 406–409 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1038/350406a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/350406a0
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