Simulation of the Effect of an Increase in Methane on Air Temperature

The infrared radiative effect of methane was analyzed using the 2D. interactive chemical dynamical radiative SOCRATES model of the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Then, a sensitivity experiment, with the methane volume mixing ratio increased by 10%. was carried out to study the influence of an increase of methane on air temperature. The results showed that methane has a heating effect through the infrared radiative process in the troposphere and a cooling effect in the stratosphere. However, the cooling effect of the methane is much smaller than that of water vapor in the stratosphere and is negligible in the mesosphere. The simulation results also showed that when methane concentration is increased by 10%. the air temperature lowers in the stratosphere and mesosphere and increases in the troposphere. The cooling can reach 0.2 K at the stratopause and can vary from 0.2-0.4 K in the mesosphere, and the temperature rise varies by around 0.001-0.002 K in the troposphere. The cooling results from the increase of the infrared radiative cooling rate caused by increased water vapor and O3 concentration, which are stimulated by the increase in methane in most of the stratosphere. The infrared radiation cooling of methane itself is minor.The depletion of O3 stimulated by the methane increase results indirectly in a decrease in the rate of solar radiation heating, producing cooling in the stratopause and mesosphere. The tropospheric warming is mainly caused by the increase of methane, which produces infrared radiative heating. The increase in H2O and O3 caused by the methane increase also contributes to a rise in temperature in the troposphere.