Global Atmospheric Methane Concentrations from 1984 to 1998

1984 to 1998 is the longest period of coverage for this processed dataset of synchronized and smoothed atmospheric methane (CH4) concentrations. The dataset contains no raw measurements, but provides extended, evenly incremented time series from selected global sites, created by NASA using data extension and integration techniques. It includes 74 files with documentation and a reference marine boundary layer matrix.

Use Cases

• Modeling global methane fluxes and sinks in carbon cycle studies using the processed time-series concentrations.
• Analyzing latitudinal gradients of methane over time with the reference marine boundary layer matrix file (function of time and sine of latitude).
• Studying long-term trends in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations from 1984 to 1998 across multiple monitoring sites.
• Integrating harmonized methane data from heterogeneous sources into atmospheric transport models.

Strengths

• Provides synchronized data from multiple global sites, facilitating direct comparison and model integration.
• Covers a significant 15-year period from 1984 to 1998 for long-term trend analysis.
• Includes extensive documentation and a reference matrix file derived from the data extension procedure.

Limitations

• Contains no actual raw measurement data, only processed (smoothed, interpolated, extrapolated) records.
• Conflicting last updated dates: datagov lists 2026-03-13 (likely a metadata error), while nasa_earthdata lists 1998-12 31.
• Specific column names, row counts, and dataset size are not provided by any source.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Data extension and integration techniques described by Masarie and Tans (1995), applied to measurements from selected global sites.

Time Range

1984 to 1998

Freshness

1998-12-31 23:59:59.999000

Geography

Global (selected monitoring sites)