Articles | Volume 26, issue 21
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-15683-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-15683-2026
Research article
 | 
09 Nov 2026
Research article |  | 09 Nov 2026

Tropospheric oxidation chemistry and methane growth: a process-based attribution of OH variability (2003–2022)

Benjamin Gaubert, Mohammad Amin Mirrezaei, Rafael P. Fernandez, Ivan Ortega, Louisa Emmons, John Orlando, Youmi Oh, Lori Bruhwiler, Shuo Chen, Gabrielle Pétron, Xin Lan, Claire Granier, Nicolas Zilbermann, Idir Bouarar, Guy P. Brasseur, Chuan Feng, Yangyang Xu, Alfonso Saiz-Lopez, Carlos A. Cuevas, and Avelino F. Arellano Jr.

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Cited articles

Akimoto, H. and Tanimoto, H.: Rethinking of the adverse effects of NOx-control on the reduction of methane and tropospheric ozone – Challenges toward a denitrified society, Atmos. Enviro., 277, 119033, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2022.119033, 2022. a
Allen, R. J., Horowitz, L. W., Naik, V., Oshima, N., O’Connor, F. M., Turnock, S., Shim, S., Le Sager, P., van Noije, T., Tsigaridis, K., Bauer, S. E., Sentman, L. T., John, J. G., Broderick, C., Deushi, M., Folberth, G. A., Fujimori, S., and Collins, W. J.: Significant climate benefits from near-term climate forcer mitigation in spite of aerosol reductions, Environ. Res. Lett., https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abe06b, 2021. a
Anderson, D. C., Duncan, B. N., Fiore, A. M., Baublitz, C. B., Follette-Cook, M. B., Nicely, J. M., and Wolfe, G. M.: Spatial and temporal variability in the hydroxyl (OH) radical: understanding the role of large-scale climate features and their influence on OH through its dynamical and photochemical drivers, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 6481–6508, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6481-2021, 2021. a, b
Anderson, D. C., Follette-Cook, M. B., Strode, S. A., Nicely, J. M., Liu, J., Ivatt, P. D., and Duncan, B. N.: A machine learning methodology for the generation of a parameterization of the hydroxyl radical, Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 6341–6358, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-6341-2022, 2022. a
Archibald, A. T., Petit, A. S., Percival, C. J., Harvey, J. N., and Shallcross, D. E.: On the importance of the reaction between OH and RO2 radicals, Atmos. Sci. Lett., 10, 102–108, https://doi.org/10.1002/asl.216, 2009. a
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Atmospheric methane levels have been rising in ways scientists struggle to explain. Much of the uncertainty lies in a chemical that removes methane from the air. Using a detailed model of the Earth, we found that chemistry plays an important role in the fate of methane in the atmosphere, even small variations need to be included to track methane accurately.
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