This is a hugely significant result, as the residence time of methane in the atmosphere will be dramatically affected by this change. The majority of naturally emitted methane will arise in the arctic. Other studies have already identified an increase in methane lifespan due to falling OH concentrations already, and this new data compounds the effect.
Taken together, these effects suggest that the IPCC models dramatically underestimate the influence of methane. A rough analysis suggests that the radiative forcing from methane may be close to that of CO2 quite quickly. This could boot up into a 2x CO2 equiv world far sooner than expected. Unless we learn to geoengineer methane, or we're prepared to turn on the SRM rapidly, it looks like we could be in serious trouble very soon. A 2010/1/10 Oliver Wingenter <[email protected]> > http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2009/2009GL040541.shtml >--
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