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

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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. 
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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. 
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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.
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