As the world was forced to go into lockdown last 2020, emissions of carbon dioxide drastically fell by around 17%, as noted by Wired. However, while these levels reduced, the worldwide release of methane skyrocketed even though certain industrial processes, such as gas and oil extraction, dampened.
Methane, the Potent Greenhouse Gas
According to the Environmental Defense Fund, methane has 80% more capacity than carbon dioxide regarding warming capabilities. Though the effects of carbon dioxide last longer, methane facilitates the warming pace in the short term.
It is normal for methane to be present in the atmosphere. As the earth's climate warms up fastly, frozen soil in the northern areas may thaw. This process makes the buried microbes feed on organic materials and expel methane, its byproduct.
Moreover, wetlands get carbon into the atmosphere as plants continue to grow. They then expel methane as these plans decay and deteriorate. Wildfires also release methane when they eat up the vegetation.
On the side of civilization, methane can largely be attributed to the fossil fuel sector. Moreover, like a wetland, deteriorating food waste also expels gas.
ALSO READ: Thawing Permafrost in Siberia Could Release 'Methane Bomb' that Accelerates Global Warming
The Reason Behind the Surge
The culprit behind this massive surge is quite sneakier than expected. In a recent study published in Nature, a global research team observed how methane emissions fell in 2020. However, nature's emissions did not reduce.
According to the study, wetlands expelled more gasses than the previous year. Wired also notes how this growth rate of methane was the highest ever since measurements of the atmosphere started in the early 80s.
Moreover, while this may appear quite ironic, the decreased emissions of civilization last 2020 aggravated the issue of atmospheric methane.
Research authors added up the people's methane emissions in the year 2020 by getting information, such as the production of fossil fuels and agriculture productivity. The team then observed that anthropogenic methane emissions were reduced by around 1.2 trillion grams between 2019 and 2020. This took place as the world experienced lockdown and as the economy plummeted.
The scientists also knew of the heat that Siberia had to endure, which may have ended up thawing permafrost. They also knew how wetlands in the north were remarkably wet and hot. Lead author and atmospheric scientist Shushi Peng notes that those who have warmer temperature levels in the northern areas may get more methane generated by wetland microbes. Moreover, in wetter climates, wetlands end up expanding. This is essentially a natural factory of methane.
Researchers then estimated gas expulsions from these landscapes. They found that as methane emissions from humanity reduced, wetland methane emissions rose by around six teragrams. Such rises account for half of the atmospheric methane increase in 2020.
Peng also notes how nitrogen oxide emissions decreased over the lockdown. Hence, the atmosphere's hydroxyl radical, or the methane sink, may slow down.
As the world polluted at lesser levels, there was also reduced production of the pollutant that typically breaks methane down. Such a case is quite a confounding result of reducing pollution. Though it is necessary to cut carbon, getting rid of the impacts of aerosols and nitrogen oxide may lead to confounding side effects.
Earth scientist George Allen shares how the burning of lesser levels of fossil fuels will lead to fewer hydroxyl radicals within the atmosphere. This, in turn, would lead concentrations of methane to increase. This means that measures to address global warming may end up with adverse effects.
Such findings show that it is urgent for the world to address carbon dioxide and methane emissions. What is of ultimate importance is carbon emissions beyond control could facilitate that probable climate feedback loops.
However, it is not yet possible for specialists to conclude whether the world is going through a feedback loop. It may be necessary to gather and analyze data for continuous years and to point out emission sources.
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