Methane is a key greenhouse gas. Observations at surface sites show a more than 10 % increase over the period 1984–2012. Using an atmospheric model we calculate a growth in the atmospheric chemical methane loss the last decades. Without this, the rise in atmospheric methane would have been even higher. The model reproduces trends and short-term variations in observation data. However, some discrepancies in model performance question the accuracy in estimates of emission increases in Asia.