Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Commentary
  • Published:

Whither methane in the IPCC process?

An Author Correction to this article was published on 05 February 2018

This article has been updated

In anticipation of the IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report we look back at our evolving understanding of atmospheric CH4. Though sources, sinks, and atmospheric burden are now well known, apportionment between the myriad sources and sinks, and forecasting natural emissions, remains a challenge.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Assessments of methane.

Change history

  • 05 February 2018

    In the version of this Commentary originally published, it incorrectly stated that in ref. 14 the search for evidence of the rapid release of old stored carbon as CH4 in the Younger Dryas–Preboreal warming was 'inconclusive'; it should have read 'negative'. The timing of the Younger Dryas–Preboreal warming was incorrectly given as '14,000 years ago'; it should have read '11,600 years ago'. Additionally, in the figure legend, 'Geological sinks incl. oceans' should have read 'Geological sources incl. oceans'. These errors have now been corrected in the online versions of the Commentary.

References

  1. Migeotte, M. V. Phys. Rev. 73, 519–520 (1948).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Wofsy, S. C., McConnell, J. C. & McElroy, M. B. J. Geophys. Res. 77, 4477–4493 (1972).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Report of the International Conference on the Assessment of the Role of Carbon Dioxide and of Other Greenhouse Gases in Climate Variations and Associated Impacts (WMO, 1986).

  4. Hopcroft, P. O., Valdes, P. J., O'Connor, F. M., Kaplan, J. O. & Beerling, D. J. Nat. Commun. 8, 14383 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Prather, M. J., Holmes, C. D. & Hsu, J. Geophys. Res. Lett. 39, L09803 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Ciais, P. et al. in Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis (eds Stocker, T. F. et al.) 465–570 (IPCC, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2014).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Ehhalt, D. H. Tellus 26, 58–70 (1974).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Saunois, M. et al. Earth Syst. Sci. Data 8, 697–751 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Zhang, Z. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 114, 9647–9652 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Kirschke, S. et al. Nat. Geosci. 6, 813–823 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Thornton, B. F., Wik, M. & Crill, P. M. Geophys. Res. Lett. 43, 12569–12577 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Sweeney, C. et al. Geophys. Res. Lett. 43, 6604–6611 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Fisher, J. B. et al. Biogeosciences 11, 4271–4288 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Petrenko, V. V. et al. Nature 548, 443–446 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Cooper, M. D. A. et al. Nat. Clim. Change 7, 507–511 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Brandt, A. R. et al. Science 343, 733–735 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Schwietzke, S. et al. Nature 538, 88–91 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Schaefer, H. et al. Science 352, 80–84 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Turner, A. J., Frankenberg, C., Wennberg, P. O. & Jacob, D. J. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 114, 5367–5372 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Bousquet, P., Hauglustaine, D. A., Peylin, P., Carouge, C. & Ciais, P. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 5, 2635–2656 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Patra, P. K. et al. Nature 513, 219–223 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Rigby, M. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 114, 5373–5377 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Hopkins, F. M. et al. Earth Future 4, 408–425 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Harriss, R. et al. Environ. Sci. Technol. 49, 7524–7526 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Sand, M. et al. Nat. Clim. Change 6, 286–289 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Patrick M. Crill.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Crill, P., Thornton, B. Whither methane in the IPCC process?. Nature Clim Change 7, 678–680 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3403

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3403

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing