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SUMMARY:Atmospheric Methane - rise\, surge\, and ongoing post-surge growth
 . Can we mitigate the rise\, and can anything be done to reduce emissions?
  - Prof Euan Nisbet\, Department for Earth Sciences\, Royal Holloway\, Uni
 versity of London
DTSTART:20260618T103000Z
DTEND:20260618T113000Z
UID:TALK246667@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Yao Ge
DESCRIPTION:Abstract:\n\nMethane was discovered 250 years ago by Alessandr
 o Volta in 1776\, but its atmospheric budget is still not understood. Ther
 e is evidence for a strong rise in wetland\, agricultural and waste emissi
 ons\, especially natural emissions from regions in tropical Africa such as
  South Sudan’s Sudd wetland\, as well as in the boreal/Arctic realm. 14C
 O data suggest an increasing OH sink since 1997\, implying the rise in met
 hane emissions was even stronger than previously thought. Following more t
 han a decade of strong growth\, 2020-2022 brought a major surprise: the hi
 ghest growth in the observational record. The causes of the surge seem to 
 include a transient decline in the oxidative power of the atmosphere\, cou
 pled with rising wetland emissions. The implications are profound: it’s 
 going to be very hard to bring methane’s growth under control.\nGrowth i
 n emissions from wetlands and tropical agriculture makes the Global Methan
 e Pledge’s goal of cutting the total atmospheric methane burden harder t
 o achieve. However\, there are many easy wins – coal mine vents in China
  and India\, livestock manure\, landfills\, sewage and biomass fires. In A
 frica and India landfill management is very poor and rural crop waste burn
 ing is widespread\, despite the damaging impact of air pollution on public
  health: much can be done here. In the dairy industry of Europe\, the US\,
  China and temperate Southern Hemisphere emission mitigation is increasing
 ly feasible. Overall\, meeting the targets of the Global Methane Pledge lo
 oks very difficult: but there’s hope that much can change\, especially i
 n China.\n\n\n\nBiography:\n\nEuan Nisbet is emeritus professor of Earth S
 ciences\, at Royal Holloway\, Univ. of London. After studying at Univ. Zim
 babwe and at Sidney Sussex college\, his geology PhD was in Darwin College
 \, After a NERC Independent fellowship in Oxford and a Royal Society postd
 oc in ETH Zurich\, he joined the staff of Mineralogy and Petrology in Camb
 ridge\, prior to the merger into Earth Sciences. For many years he and CMR
  Fowler\, his wife\, both taught in the Earth Sciences Dept.\, Univ. of Sa
 skatchewan (he has prairie ancestry). He led the Canadian Lithosphere Comm
 ittee for many years\, advising the government on natural hazards\, includ
 ing methane hydrate. From 1985-7 he held a Steacie Fellowship from the Gov
 ernor-General which\, with help from Paul Crutzen and Ralph Cicerone\, pro
 mpted a switch from hard rock geology to atmospheric methane\, much to the
  annoyance of the funding agency who halved his grant. At Royal Holloway h
 e led or co-led many large European consortia\, such as Meth-MoniEUr\, the
  West European Methane Budget experiment\, EuroHydros\, Geomon\, MEMO etc.
  etc. and many NERC projects\, including the UK MOYA Global Methane Budget
  consortium (2016-2022). Many projects were in collaboration with John Pyl
 e. Now retired\, he serves on the scientific advisory panel for the United
  Nations International Methane Emissions Observatory. His input was used i
 n the 2021 Global Methane Assessment underpinning the Global Methane Pledg
 e\, and he is a co-author of the 2025 UNEP Global Methane Status report.
LOCATION:Chemistry Dept\, Unilever Lecture Theatre and Teams
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