Atmospheric Methane: Sources, Sinks, and Role in Global Change

Methane plays many important roles in the earth's environment. It is a potent "greenhouse gas" that warms the earth; controls the oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere (OH) indirectly affecting the cycles and abundances of many atmospheric trace gases; provides water vapor to the stratosphere; scavenges chlorine atoms from the stratosphere, terminating the catalytic ozone destruction by chlorine atoms, including the chlorine released from the man-made chlorofluorocarbons; produces ozone, CO,...