Some features of seasonal variations in the methane content in the atmosphere over northern Eurasia

The climatic trends and basic features of seasonal variations in and anomalies of the concentration of methane in the atmospheric surface layer are considered on the basis of the current notion of the processes that form the global field of methane in the Earth’s atmosphere. Measurement data on the surface concentration of methane, which were obtained in Moscow and at a number of observation stations in Europe and Siberia in the fall-winter period of the first decade of the 21st century, have been analyzed. It is shown that, in the anomalously warm winter months of 2006/2007, the concentration of methane in the atmosphere over Moscow was higher than in the previous and following years. The excess concentration of methane amounted to 10% in March 2007, which is higher than the mean range of seasonal variations in the monthly mean concentration of surface methane. A comparison between the data obtained in Moscow and the data obtained at three stations of the NOAA global monitoring network and at three Russian Hydrometeorological Research Center stations shows the high spatial variability of the methane concentration in the atmosphere over northern Eurasia. The complex and multifactor processes that determine the content of methane in the atmospheric surface layer result in noticeable spatial and interannual deviations from the mean seasonal cycle of its concentration, which can manifest themselves on both regional and global scales. It is possible that the resumed increase in the content of methane in the Earth’s atmosphere recorded in 2007 (after its relative stabilization in the early 2000s) at the global monitoring network was also caused, to some extent, by the anomalously warm winter of 2006–2007 in northern Europe and western Siberia.