Another Source of Atmospheric Methane

The atmospheric concentration of methane is steadily increasin.Lacking of precise estimates of source and sink strengths for the atmospheric methane severely limits the current understanding of the global methane cycle.Agood budget of atmospheric methane can enhance our understanding of the global carbon cycle and global climate change,The known estimates of the main source and sink strengths are gresented in this paper,In terms of carbon isotopic studies,it is evidenced that the earth‘s primodial methane,which was trapped in the earth during its formation,may be another source of methane,with extensive,earth‘s degassing which is calleld the “breathing“ process of the earth and played an important role in the formation of the promitive atmosphere,large amounts of methane were carried from the deep interior to the surface and then found its way into the atmosphere.

Another source of atmospheric methane

The atmospheric concentration of methane is steadily increasing. Lacking of precise estimates of source and sink strengths for the atmospheric methane severely limits the current understanding of the global methane cycle. A good budget of atmospheric methane can enhance our understanding of the global carbon cycle and global climate change. The known estimates of the main source and sink strengths are presented in this paper. In terms of carbon isotopic studies, it is evidenced that the earth’s primodial methane, which was trapped in the earth during its formation, may be another source of methane. With extensive earth’s degassing, which is calleld the “breathing” process of the earth and played an important role in the formation of the primitive atmosphere, large amounts of methane were carried from the deep interior to the surface and then found its way into the atmosphere. This project was granted by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.