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Science 4 April 1986:
Vol. 232. no. 4746, pp. 56 - 58
DOI: 10.1126/science.232.4746.56

Articles

Interannual Variability of Atmospheric Methane: Possible Effects of the El Niño—Southern Oscillation

M. A. K. KHALIL 1 and R. A. RASMUSSEN 1

1 Institute of Atmospheric Sciences, Department of Chemical, Biological, and Environmental Sciences, Oregon Graduate Center, Beaverton, OR 97006.

Nearly continuous measurements at Cape Meares, Oregon, revealed that methane was increasing in the earth's atmosphere and that its concentration varied cyclically with the seasons. After 6 years of measurements, results show that the rate of increase in methane undergoes interannual variations; the most prominent of these coincided with the last major El Niño—Southern Oscillation, when methane concentrations fell far below expected levels. One of the consequences of the interannual variability is that the long-term rate of increase at Cape Meares is now about 16 parts per billion by volume per year, or about 1 percent annually, which is significantly less than that indicated by the earliest calculations.

Submitted on September 3, 1985
Accepted on January 13, 1986


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
El Nino Southern Oscillation influences in the Australasian region.
R. J. Allan (1988)
Progress in Physical Geography 12, 313-348
   PDF »
Continuing Worldwide Increase in Tropospheric Methane, 1978 to 1987.
D. R. BLAKE and F. S. ROWLAND (1988)
Science 239, 1129-1131
   Abstract »    PDF »
Atmospheric Trace Gases: Trends and Distributions Over the Last Decade.
R. A. Rasmussen, R. A. RASMUSSEN, and M. A. K. KHALIL (1986)
Science 232, 1623-1624
   Abstract »    PDF »



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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)