One of the interesting properties of methane is that its atmospheric residence time is significantly shorter than carbon dioxide. Consequently, methane is about 1.7 parts per million (0.00017%) in the atmosphere compared to 425 parts per million for carbon dioxide. Some alarmist reports cite methane as “the most dangerous GHG” because it has strong heat trapping characteristics for certain wavelengths of light, but these reports often fail to mention that there is 0.4% as much methane as CO2 in the atmosphere (1.7/425). And this is before considering redundancy with water vapor.
One of the interesting properties of methane is that its atmospheric residence time is significantly shorter than carbon dioxide. Consequently, methane is about 1.7 parts per million (0.00017%) in the atmosphere compared to 425 parts per million for carbon dioxide. Some alarmist reports cite methane as “the most dangerous GHG” because it has strong heat trapping characteristics for certain wavelengths of light, but these reports often fail to mention that there is 0.4% as much methane as CO2 in the atmosphere (1.7/425). And this is before considering redundancy with water vapor.
I love methane. I feel like that farming skit by David Mitchell when I say that decaying food produces fuel for cooking for *free*! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaZuBziWLgk&t=26