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Are Microbes Increasing Levels of Methane in the Atmosphere?
Though it breaks down faster than CO2, methane is a greenhouse gas over 80 times as potent as carbon dioxide, reports the Washington Post. It suddenly started increasing in the atmosphere in 2007 — and then in 2020, its growth rate doubled. While scientists have suspected it was natural gas...
It suddenly started increasing in the atmosphere in 2007 — and then in 2020, its growth rate doubled.While scientists have suspected it was natural gas, some researchers have a new theory..."The changes that we saw in the last couple of years — and even since 2007 — are microbial," said Sylvia Michel, lead author of the paper published last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Methane produced by microbes — mostly single-celled organisms known as archaea, which live in cow stomachs, wetlands and agricultural fields — tends to be "lighter," or have fewer C13 atoms. Another recent study found that two-thirds of current methane emissions are caused by humans — from fossil fuels, rice cultivation, reservoirs and other sources.
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