Abstract
The infrared radiative effect of methane was analyzed using the 2D, interactive chemical dynamical radiative SOCRATES model of the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Then, a sensitivity experiment, with the methane volume mixing ratio increased by 10%, was carried out to study the influence of an increase of methane on air temperature. The results showed that methane has a heating effect through the infrared radiative process in the troposphere and a cooling effect in the stratosphere. However, the cooling effect of the methane is much smaller than that of water vapor in the stratosphere and is negligible in the mesosphere. The simulation results also showed that when methane concentration is increased by 10%, the air temperature lowers in the stratosphere and mesosphere and increases in the troposphere. The cooling can reach 0.2 K at the stratopause and can vary from 0.2–0.4 K in the mesosphere, and the temperature rise varies by around 0.001–0.002 K in the troposphere. The cooling results from the increase of the infrared radiative cooling rate caused by increased water vapor and O3 concentration, which are stimulated by the increase in methane in most of the stratosphere. The infrared radiation cooling of methane itself is minor. The depletion of O3 stimulated by the methane increase results indirectly in a decrease in the rate of solar radiation heating, producing cooling in the stratopause and mesosphere. The tropospheric warming is mainly caused by the increase of methane, which produces infrared radiative heating. The increase in H2O and O3 caused by the methane increase also contributes to a rise in temperature in the troposphere.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bi, Y., Y.-J. Chen, L. Xu, S.-M. Deng, and R.-J. Zhou, 2007: Analysis of H2O and CH4 distribution characteristics in the middle atmosphere using HALOE data. Chinese J. Atmos. Sci., 31, 440–448. (in Chinses)
Brasseur, G., and S. Solomon, 1984: Aeronomy of the Middle Atmosphere. R. H. Huang, Trans., Meteorology Press, Beijing, 462pp. (in Chinese)
Chen, Y.-J., B. Zheng, and H. Zhang, 2002: The features of ozone quasi-biennial oscillation in tropical stratosphere and its numerical simulation. Adv. Atmos. Sci., 19, 777–793.
Chen, Y.-J., M.-J. Yi, Y. Bi, and R.-J. Zhou, 2009: A study of the trends of the traces gases in stratosphere. Advances in Earth Science, 24, 308–319.
Daniel, M. S., and V. Ramaswamy, 2008: Evolution of stratospheric temperature in the 20th century. Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L03705, doi: 10.1029/2007GL032489.
Ding, Z.-L., X.-N. Duan, Q.-S. Ge, and Z.-Q. Zhang, 2009: Control of atmospheric CO2 concentration by 2050: An allocation on the emission rights of different countries. Science in China (D), 39, 1009–1027.
Dlugokencky, E. J., K. A. Masarie, P. M. Lang, and K. A. Masarie, 1998: Continuing decline in the growth rate of the atmospheric methane burden. Nature, 393, 447–450.
Forster, P. M. de F., and K. P. Shine, 2002: Assessing in climate impact of trends in stratospheric water vapor. Geophys. Res. Lett., 29, 1086–1089.
Golitsyn, G. S., A. I. Semenov, N. N. Shefov, L. M. Fishkova, E. V. Lysenko, and S. P. Perov, 1996: _Long-term temperature trends in the middle and upper atmosphere. Geophys. Res. Lett., 23, 1741–1744.
Gruzdev, A. N., and G. P. Brasseur, 2005: Long-term changes in the mesosphere calculated by a two-dimensional model. J. Geophys. Res., 110, 304–321.
IPCC, 2001: Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 881pp.
IPCC, 2007: Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of the Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Cambridge University Press, UK, 996pp.
Jones, R. L., J. A. Pyle, J. E. Harries, A. M. Zavody, J. M. Russell III, and J. C. Gille, 1986: The water vapour budget of the stratosphere studied using LIMS and SAMS satellite data. Quart. J. Roy. Meter. Soc., 112, 1127–1143.
Khosravi, R., G. Brasseur, A. Smith, D. Rusch, S. Walters, S. Chabrillat, and G. Kockarts, 2002: Response of the mesosphere to human-induced perturbations and solar variability calculated by 2-D model. J. Geophys. Res., 107, 4358–4378.
Kirk-Davidoff, D. B., E. J. Hintsa, J. G. Anderson, and D. W. Keith, 1999: The effect of climate change on ozone depletion through changes in stratospheric water. Nature, 402, 399–401.
Lee, H., and A. K. Smith, 2003: Simulation of the combined effects of solar cycle, quasi-biennial oscillation, and volcanic forcing on stratospheric ozone changes in recent decades. J. Geophys. Res., 108, 4049–4064.
Li, G.-H., D.-R. Lü, and X.-X. Tie, 2003: The impact of tropopause variation on ozone distribution in upper troposphere/lower stratosphere. Chinese Journal of Space Science, 23, 269–277. (in Chinese)
Manzini, E., B. Steil, C. Brühl, M. A. Giorgetta, and K. Krüger, 2003: A new interactive chemistry-climate model: 2. Sensitivity of the middle atmosphere to ozone depletion and increase in greenhouse gases and implications for recent stratospheric cooling. J. Geophys. Res., 108, 4429–4450.
Oman, L., D. W. Waugh, S. Pawson, R. S. Stolarski., and J. E. Nielsen, 2008: Understanding the changes of stratospheric water vapor in coupled chemistryclimate model simulations. J. Atmos. Sci., 65, 3278–3291.
Ramaswamy, V., and Coauthors, 2001: Stratospheric temperature trends: Observations and model simulations. Reviews of Geophysics, 39, 71–122.
Shindell, D., 2001: Climate and ozone response to increased stratospheric water vapor. Geophys. Res. Lett., 28, 1551–1554.
Stenke, A., and V. Grewe, 2005: Simulation of stratospheric water vapor trends: impact on stratospheric ozone chemistry. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 5, 1257–1272.
Zhang, H., Y.-J. Chen, and B.-Y. Wu, 2000: Impact of the quasi-biennial oscillation on the distribution of the trace gases in the stratosphere. Chinese J. Atmos. Sci., 24, 103–110. (in Chinese)
Zheng, B., Y.-J. Chen, and H. Zhang, 2003: Quasibiennial oscillation in NOx and its relation to Quasibiennial oscillation in O3, Part II: Numerical experiment. Chinese J. Atmos. Sci., 27, 387–398. (in Chinese)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bi, Y., Chen, Y., Zhou, R. et al. Simulation of the effect of an increase in methane on air temperature. Adv. Atmos. Sci. 28, 129–138 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-010-9197-x
Received:
Revised:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-010-9197-x