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
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)
Technical note: A comparative study of chemistry schemes for volcanic sulfur dioxide in Lagrangian transport simulations – a case study of the 2019 Raikoke eruption
Mingzhao Liu, Lars Hoffmann, Jens-Uwe Grooß, Zhongyin Cai, Sabine Grießbach, and Yi Heng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 4403–4418, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4403-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4403-2025, 2025
Short summary
Monoterpene oxidation pathways initiated by acyl peroxy radical addition
Dominika Pasik, Thomas Golin Almeida, Emelda Ahongshangbam, Siddharth Iyer, and Nanna Myllys
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 4313–4331, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4313-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4313-2025, 2025
Short summary
Local and transboundary contributions to NOy loadings across East Asia using CMAQ-ISAM and a GEMS-informed emission inventory during the winter–spring transition
Jincheol Park, Yunsoo Choi, and Sagun Kayastha
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 4291–4311, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4291-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4291-2025, 2025
Short summary
Estimating the variability in NOx emissions from Wuhan with TROPOMI NO2 data during 2018 to 2023
Qianqian Zhang, K. Folkert Boersma, Chiel van der Laan, Alba Mols, Bin Zhao, Shengyue Li, and Yuepeng Pan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3313–3326, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3313-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3313-2025, 2025
Short summary
Enhanced understanding of atmospheric blocking modulation on ozone dynamics within a high-resolution Earth system model
Wenbin Kou, Yang Gao, Dan Tong, Xiaojie Guo, Xiadong An, Wenyu Liu, Mengshi Cui, Xiuwen Guo, Shaoqing Zhang, Huiwang Gao, and Lixin Wu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3029–3048, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3029-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3029-2025, 2025
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.
Share
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint