Cornell paper says shale gas is the likeliest cause of methane increase
19/08/2019
This new paper argues that biogenic sources such as tropical wetlands, rice fields or animal agriculture are likely to have contributed less to an increase in atmospheric methane than another source, shale gas and shale oil.
Studies have shown a 7% increase in the total atmospheric flux of methane for the period 2008-2014 compared to the 2000-2007 period. Influential papers in the journals Science and Nature in 2016 examined this increase and concluded that biogenic emissions are the probable cause. These papers said it was likely emissions from fossil fuels have decreased during this century.
However, Professor Howarth has said that increased methane emissions from fossil fuels probably exceed those from biogenic sources over the past decade (since 2007). He has explained his paper’s divergence from the 2016 ones by saying that emissions from shale gas operations are different from those that come from more conventional fossil fuel use. Previous studies noted that the isotopic composition of methane has become lighter and associated this with biogenic emissions without considering shale gas.
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