Articles | Volume 22, issue 21
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14243-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14243-2022
Research article
 | 
08 Nov 2022
Research article |  | 08 Nov 2022

COVID-19 lockdown emission reductions have the potential to explain over half of the coincident increase in global atmospheric methane

David S. Stevenson, Richard G. Derwent, Oliver Wild, and William J. Collins

Related authors

A dynamical process-based model for quantifying global agricultural ammonia emissions – AMmonia–CLIMate v1.0 (AMCLIM v1.0) – Part 2: livestock farming
Jize Jiang, David S. Stevenson, Aimable Uwizeye, Giuseppe Tempio, Alessandra Falcucci, Flavia Casu, and Mark A. Sutton
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3803,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3803, 2024
Short summary
A dynamical process-based model for quantifying global agricultural ammonia emissions – AMmonia–CLIMate v1.0 (AMCLIM v1.0) – Part 1: Land module for simulating emissions from synthetic fertilizer use
Jize Jiang, David S. Stevenson, and Mark A. Sutton
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 8181–8222, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-8181-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-8181-2024, 2024
Short summary
Soil Deposition of Atmospheric Hydrogen Constrained using Planetary Scale Observations
Alexander Karim Tardito Chaudhri and David S. Stevenson
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3247,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3247, 2024
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
Evaluating tropospheric nitrogen dioxide in UKCA using OMI satellite retrievals over South and East Asia
Alok K. Pandey, David S. Stevenson, Alcide Zhao, Richard J. Pope, Ryan Hossaini, Krishan Kumar, and Marytn P. Chipperfield
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2686,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2686, 2024
Short summary
Evaluation of WRF-Chem-simulated meteorology and aerosols over northern India during the severe pollution episode of 2016
Prerita Agarwal, David S. Stevenson, and Mathew R. Heal
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 2239–2266, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2239-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2239-2024, 2024
Short summary

Related subject area

Subject: Gases | Research Activity: Atmospheric Modelling and Data Analysis | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Chemistry (chemical composition and reactions)
Seasonal, regional, and vertical characteristics of high-carbon-monoxide plumes along with their associated ozone anomalies, as seen by IAGOS between 2002 and 2019
Thibaut Lebourgeois, Bastien Sauvage, Pawel Wolff, Béatrice Josse, Virginie Marécal, Yasmine Bennouna, Romain Blot, Damien Boulanger, Hannah Clark, Jean-Marc Cousin, Philippe Nedelec, and Valérie Thouret
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13975–14004, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13975-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13975-2024, 2024
Short summary
The potential of drone observations to improve air quality predictions by 4D-Var
Hassnae Erraji, Philipp Franke, Astrid Lampert, Tobias Schuldt, Ralf Tillmann, Andreas Wahner, and Anne Caroline Lange
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13913–13934, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13913-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13913-2024, 2024
Short summary
Process analysis of elevated concentrations of organic acids at Whiteface Mountain, New York
Christopher Lawrence, Mary Barth, John Orlando, Paul Casson, Richard Brandt, Daniel Kelting, Elizabeth Yerger, and Sara Lance
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13693–13713, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13693-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13693-2024, 2024
Short summary
Ozone source attribution in polluted European areas during summer 2017 as simulated with MECO(n)
Markus Kilian, Volker Grewe, Patrick Jöckel, Astrid Kerkweg, Mariano Mertens, Andreas Zahn, and Helmut Ziereis
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13503–13523, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13503-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13503-2024, 2024
Short summary
Opinion: Challenges and needs of tropospheric chemical mechanism development
Barbara Ervens, Andrew Rickard, Bernard Aumont, William P. L. Carter, Max McGillen, Abdelwahid Mellouki, John Orlando, Bénédicte Picquet-Varrault, Paul Seakins, William R. Stockwell, Luc Vereecken, and Timothy J. Wallington
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13317–13339, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13317-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13317-2024, 2024
Short summary

Cited articles

Bauwens, M., Compernolle, S., Stavrakou, T., Müller, J.-F., van Gent, J., Eskes, H., Levelt, P. F., van der A, R., Veefkind, J. P., Vlietinck, J., Yu, H., and Zehner, C.: Impact of coronavirus outbreak on NO2 pollution assessed using TROPOMI and OMI observations, Geophys. Res. Lett., 47, e2020GL087978, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL087978, 2020. 
Cooper, M. J., Martin, R. V., Hammer, M. S., Levelt, P. F., Veefkind, P., Lamsal, L. N., Krotkov, N. A., Brook, J. R., and McLinden, C. A.: Global fine-scale changes in ambient NO2 during COVID-19 lockdowns, Nature, 601, 380–387, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04229-0, 2022. 
Derwent, R. G., Collins, W. J., Johnson, C. E., and Stevenson, D. S.: Transient Behaviour of Tropospheric Ozone Precursors in a Global 3-D CTM and Their Indirect Greenhouse Effects, Clim. Change, 49, 463–487, https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010648913655, 2001. 
Dlugokencky, E.: NOAA/GML Trends in Atmospheric Methane, https://gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends_ch4/, last access: 16 September 2022. 
Doumbia, T., Granier, C., Elguindi, N., Bouarar, I., Darras, S., Brasseur, G., Gaubert, B., Liu, Y., Shi, X., Stavrakou, T., Tilmes, S., Lacey, F., Deroubaix, A., and Wang, T.: Changes in global air pollutant emissions during the COVID-19 pandemic: a dataset for atmospheric modeling, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 4191–4206, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4191-2021, 2021. 
Download
Short summary
Atmospheric methane’s growth rate rose by 50 % in 2020 relative to 2019. Lower nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions tend to increase methane’s atmospheric residence time; lower carbon monoxide (CO) and non-methane volatile organic compound (NMVOC) emissions decrease its lifetime. Combining model sensitivities with emission changes, we find that COVID-19 lockdown emission reductions can explain over half the observed increases in methane in 2020.
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint