Oil and natural gas boom causes methane emissions to increase
Tuesday, March 15, 2016 - 09:30
in Earth & Climate
Like carbon dioxide, methane is one of the most important greenhouse gases. After a period of stagnation around 2000, atmospheric methane concentrations started to rise again in 2007. So far, the causes have been unknown. According to the recent study of climate scientists of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), at least 40% of this increase result from the growing production of oil and natural gas in the northern hemisphere. The results are now published in the Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics journal.