Sunday, December 29, 2013

Introduction

Welcome to the Apocalypse4Real global methane blog! It is my hope this will be of value to those interested in the current and future impact of CH4 on our planet, and the urgent need to slow and stop its continuing increase and potential catastrophic impact on our future.

The purpose of this blog is to track and comment on local and broader increases in global methane released into the atmosphere. This includes, but is not limited to:

1) The WDCGG, ESRL and AGAGE monthly and annual CH4 ppb totals, as they come available.
2) The global 10-day and monthly METOP 2 IASI CH4 means and areas of high and low CH4 concentrations, and potential causes of, or contributors to, their variability.
3) Particular areas of concern and interest globally, such as the Arctic, Antarctic, Siberia, Africa and Asia.
4) Studies of past, current and future potential CH4 levels and associated climate causes or impacts.
5) The ice core methane record which helps document its historical interaction with climate change.

I am indebted to a number of individuals and organizations who have inspired this blog. These include:

Leonid Yurganov, PhD, Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology, University of Maryland, Baltimore, who helped my understanding of the importance of the AIRS/Giovanni and METOP2 IASI satellite CH4 imagery to climate science. Our exchanges have inspired me to track and collect the IASI imagery daily.

Omar Cabrera, for his amazing work creating methanetracker.org. The METOP 2 IASI mapping and data analysis capability he created in 2013 is invaluable to visualizing methane concentrations and changes through time and also by atmospheric layers in almost real-time. See: http://www.methanetracker.org/

Neven Acropolis, who founded the Arctic Sea Ice blog, http://neven1.typepad.com/blog/ and Arctic Sea Ice Forum, http://forum.arctic-sea-ice.net/index.php which have been valuable source of dialogue and a location for sharing insights into the interaction of all things "Arctic" and Arctic methane release.

Igor Semiletov. Natalia Shakhova, and Katey Walter Anthony at the International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, for their highly influential research regarding methane release in the East Siberian and Laptev seas, and from Arctic permafrost. See http://www.iarc.uaf.edu/people/groups/faculty-and-students

The very helpful (and patient) scientists and staff at the NOAA Satellite and Information Service, NESDIS, Office of Satellite Data, Processing and Distribution, who produce the METOP 2 IASI CH4 imagery, that is the foundation of what is reported here. Without their work, I would have nothing to add to global methane dialogue. See: http://www.osdpd.noaa.gov/IASI/html/index.html

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), World Data Center for Greenhouse Gases as a repository for global methane data, See: http://ds.data.jma.go.jp/gmd/wdcgg/

The Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC) for collection and serving as a repository for AGAGE CH4 data in the US. See: http://cdiac.ornl.gov/mission.html

NOAA/ERSL/Global Monitoring Division, especially, Ed Dlugokencky for collection of the ERSL/GMD data. See: http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/

Finally, I am appreciative of the work of Sam Carana at Arctic News. The focus of the site and its contributors is helpful in focusing on the urgency of potential Arctic feedbacks that may lead to massive methane release in the coming decades, which would have a major impact on global climate.
See: http://arctic-news.blogspot.com/

Now to blogging and I look forward to your comments.