Natural gas is a fossil fuel derived from ancient hydrocarbon deposits. Natural gas is nearly pure methane—a small molecule with a central carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms surrounding it. Methane is also produced by a variety of soil microbes, especially in wetland soils.
You can use a funnel to gather bubbles of methane escaping from swamps and shallow lakes. This methane will burn if you light a match near the funnel’s upward-pointing stem.
The concentration of methane in Earth’s atmosphere is increasing, more than doubling since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Naturally, you may think this increase is derived from leakage at natural gas wells and along their pipelines. Undoubtedly, some of the increase is derived from these sources. But we must be wary of the fugitive methane emissions that might also derive from widespread hydraulic-fracture extraction of natural gas.
The biggest new sources of methane in the atmosphere are derived from new wetland areas that are planted with rice, from the burps of ruminant animals (such as cows), and from smoldering forest fires, especially in the tropics.
Normally, we wouldn’t be terribly concerned about a gas that is found at only a couple of parts per million in the atmosphere. But, methane contributes to the greenhouse effect in the atmosphere, causing global warming. And, it can also contribute to the formation of ozone as an air pollutant.
Tackling emissions of methane may be one of the most efficient ways to counter the problem of global climate change. Preventing leaks of natural gas, wherever they occur, is something everyone should favor.
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For more information see Schlesinger and Bernhardt, 2013, Biogeochemistry: An analysis of global change. Elsevier, New York.
Photo, taken in August, 2008, courtesy of Ruthanne Reid via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Support for Earth Wise comes from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY, with partial support from the Field Day Foundation.