Methane plays many important roles in the earth's environment. It is a potent "greenhouse gas" that warms the earth; controls the oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere (OH) indirectly affecting the cycles and abundances of many atmospheric trace gases; provides water vapor to the stratosphere; scavenges chlorine atoms from the stratosphere, terminating the catalytic ozone destruction by chlorine atoms, including the chlorine released from the man-made chlorofluorocarbons; produces ozone, CO, and CO2 in the troposphere; and it is an index of life on earth and so is present in greater quantities during warm interglacial epochs and dwindles to low levels during the cold of ice ages. By all measures, methane is the second only to CO2 in causing future global warming. The book presents a comprehensive account of the current understanding of atmospheric methane, and it is an end point for summarizing more than a decade of intensive research on the global sources, sinks, concentrations, and environmental role of methane.

Inhalt

1. Introduction.- Record of Atmospheric Methane.- 2. Measurement and Research Techniques: Working Group Report.- 3. The Record of Atmospheric Methane.- 4. Isotopic Abundances in the Atmosphere and Sources.- 5. Atmospheric Methane Concentrations: Working Group Report.- Formation and Consumption of Methane.- 6. Biological Formation and Consumption of Methane.- 7. Formation and Consumption of Methane: Working Group Report.- Sources and Sinks.- 8. Stable Isotopes and Global Budgets.- 9. Methane Sinks and Distributions.- 10. Sources of Methane: An Overview.- Methane Emissions from Individual Sources.- 11. Ruminants and Other Animals.- 12. Rice Agriculture: Emissions.- 13. Rice Agriculture: Factors Controlling Emissions.- 14. Biomass Burning.- 15. Wetlands.- 16. Waste Management.- 17. Industrial Sources.- 18. Minor Sources of Methane.- 19. Sources and Sinks of Methane: Working Group Report.- The Environmental Role of Methane & Current Issues.- 20. The Role of Methane in the Global Environment.- 21. The Current and Future Environmental Role of Atmospheric Methane: Model Studies and Uncertainties: Working Group Report.- Appendices.- Appendix 1. List of Participants and Photographs of Working Groups.