Atmospheric Methane: Sources, Sinks, and Role in Global Change (Nato a S I Series Series I, Global Environmental Change) [Hardcover]

Mohammad Aslam Khan Khalil (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0387545840 | ISBN-13: 978-0387545844 | Publication Date: November 1993

Methane plays many important roles in the earth's environment. It is a potent "greenhouse gas" that warms the earth; controls the oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere (OH) indirectly affecting the cycles and abundances of many atmospheric trace gases; provides water vapor to the stratosphere; scavenges chlorine atoms from the stratosphere, terminating the catalytic ozone destruction by chlorine atoms, including the chlorine released from the man-made chlorofluorocarbons; produces ozone, CO, and CO2 in the troposphere; and it is an index of life on earth and so is present in greater quantities during warm interglacial epochs and dwindles to low levels during the cold of ice ages. By all measures, methane is the second only to CO2 in causing future global warming. The book presents a comprehensive account of the current understanding of atmospheric methane, and it is an end point for summarizing more than a decade of intensive research on the global sources, sinks, concentrations, and environmental role of methane.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 561 pages
• Publisher: Springer-Verlag (November 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0387545840
• ISBN-13: 978-0387545844
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,231,523 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)