Articles | Volume 20, issue 14
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-8405-2020
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-8405-2020
Research article
 | 
17 Jul 2020
Research article |  | 17 Jul 2020

Strong sensitivity of the isotopic composition of methane to the plausible range of tropospheric chlorine

Sarah A. Strode, James S. Wang, Michael Manyin, Bryan Duncan, Ryan Hossaini, Christoph A. Keller, Sylvia E. Michel, and James W. C. White

Related authors

Overview: The Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change at 35 years: achievements and future strategy
Irina Petropavlovskikh, Martine De Mazière, Anne M. Thompson, Jeannette D. Wild, James W. Hannigan, Henry B. Selkirk, Reem A. Hannun, Wolfgang Steinbrecht, Jean-Christopher Lambert, Roeland Van Malderen, Elizabeth Asher, Raul R. Cordero, Sophie Godin-Beekmann, Daan Hubert, Sergey Khaykin, Karin Kreher, Thierry Leblanc, Emmanuel Mahieu, Eliane Maillard Barras, Glen McConville, Gerald Nedoluha, Ivan Ortega, Alberto Redondas Marrero, Gunther Seckmeyer, Ryan M. Stauffer, Sarah A. Strode, Kim Strong, Takafumi Sugita, Michel Van Roozendael, Voltaire Velazco, Corinne Vigouroux, and Bärbel Vogel
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 8637–8675, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-8637-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-8637-2026, 2026
Short summary
From column to surface: connecting the performance in simulating aerosol optical properties and PM2.5 concentrations in the NASA GEOSCCM
Caterina Mogno, Peter R. Colarco, Allison B. Collow, Sampa Das, Sarah A. Strode, Vanessa Valenti, Michael E. Manyin, Qing Liang, Luke Oman, Stephen D. Steenrod, and K. Emma Knowland
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 3025–3047, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-3025-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-3025-2026, 2026
Short summary
Investigating recent decadal trends in the Pacific westerly jet in response to various atmospheric forcings using CMIP6 model results and reanalysis data
Huisheng Bian, Sarah Strode, Mian Chin, Fan Li, Andrea Molad, Peter R. Colarco, and Hongbin Yu
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4501,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4501, 2025
Preprint archived
Short summary
Opinion: Beyond global means – novel space-based approaches to indirectly constrain the concentrations of and trends and variations in the tropospheric hydroxyl radical (OH)
Bryan N. Duncan, Daniel C. Anderson, Arlene M. Fiore, Joanna Joiner, Nickolay A. Krotkov, Can Li, Dylan B. Millet, Julie M. Nicely, Luke D. Oman, Jason M. St. Clair, Joshua D. Shutter, Amir H. Souri, Sarah A. Strode, Brad Weir, Glenn M. Wolfe, Helen M. Worden, and Qindan Zhu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13001–13023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13001-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13001-2024, 2024
Short summary
Tropospheric ozone precursors: global and regional distributions, trends, and variability
Yasin Elshorbany, Jerald R. Ziemke, Sarah Strode, Hervé Petetin, Kazuyuki Miyazaki, Isabelle De Smedt, Kenneth Pickering, Rodrigo J. Seguel, Helen Worden, Tamara Emmerichs, Domenico Taraborrelli, Maria Cazorla, Suvarna Fadnavis, Rebecca R. Buchholz, Benjamin Gaubert, Néstor Y. Rojas, Thiago Nogueira, Thérèse Salameh, and Min Huang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12225–12257, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12225-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12225-2024, 2024
Short summary

Cited articles

Allan, W., Manning, M. R., Lassey, K. R., Lowe, D. C., and Gomez, A. J.: Modeling the variation of δ13C in atmospheric methane: Phase ellipses and the kinetic isotope effect, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 15, 467–481, https://doi.org/10.1029/2000GB001282, 2001. 
Allan, W., Struthers, H., and Lowe, D.: Methane carbon isotope effects caused by atomic chlorine in the marine boundary layer: Global model results compared with Southern Hemisphere measurements, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 112, D04306, https://doi.org/10.1029/2006JD007369, 2007. 
Bock, M., Schmitt, J., Beck, J., Seth, B., Chappellaz, J., and Fischer, H.: Glacial/interglacial wetland, biomass burning, and geologic methane emissions constrained by dual stable isotopic CH4 ice core records, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 114, E5778–E5786, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1613883114, 2017. 
Brownlow, R., Lowry, D., Fisher, R., France, J., Lanoisellé, M., White, B., Wooster, M., Zhang, T., and Nisbet, E.: Isotopic ratios of tropical methane emissions by atmospheric measurement, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 31, 1408–1419, 2017. 
Cantrell, C. A., Shetter, R. E., McDaniel, A. H., Calvert, J. G., Davidson, J. A., Lowe, D. C., Tyler, S. C., Cicerone, R. J., and Greenberg, J. P.: Carbon kinetic isotope effect in the oxidation of methane by the hydroxyl radical, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 95, 22455–22462, 1990. 
Download
Short summary
The 13C : 12C isotopic ratio in methane (CH4) provides information about CH4 sources, but loss of CH4 by reaction with OH and chlorine (Cl) also affects this ratio. Tropospheric Cl provides a small and uncertain sink for CH4 but has a large effect on its isotopic ratio. We use the GEOS model with several different Cl fields to test the sensitivity of methane's isotopic composition to tropospheric Cl. Cl affects the global mean, hemispheric gradient, and seasonal cycle of the isotopic ratio.
Share
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint