Courtesy of Reuters:

[1] Climate-warming methane levels rose fast in 2007 | Environment | Reuters

Methane is a serious green-house gas.  It has 25 times more impact in terms of global warming than carbon dioxide.  If we were burning fuels that sent clouds of methane out the tailpipe instead of clouds of carbon dioxide we would be cooked already, but methane is not a by-product of combustion generally.

Methane is the primary component of natural gas.  It is essentially a vaporous fuel.  Methane levels in the atmosphere have risen since pre-industrial times.  The level has more than doubled, but the [2] methane levels had been essentially stable until 2007.

In 2007, methane levels in the atmosphere, measures around the small blue planet, took a significant jump.  The mechanism of the jump is currently unknown and the increase does not pose an immediate risk, but if the increase is indicative of a trend for increasing atmospheric methane levels, it is worrisome.

There are at least two ideas currently under study with regard to the methane increase.  The first, that I have posted about before, is that as global warming advances, tundra and permafrost thawing release methane.  This methane release is also occuring from the floor of the Arctic Ocean as the polar ice cap diminishes.   The second potential cause of atmospheric methane increase is the possibility of a [3] change in the atmosphere’s capacity to scrub methane through the hydroxy free radical (like Williams Ayers, I guess,  free radical, get it?  stay with me) known as OH.

Too soon to tell how the methane story will play out, but I am following it here and I will post again as more information develops.