Atmospheric Methane and Isotope Measurements from Global Flask Samples, 1988-1996

Precise measurements of atmospheric methane and its 13C/12C isotope ratio from flask air samples collected at eight global sites and NOAA Pacific cruises. Paul D. Quay of the University of Washington compiled this data, which spans from 1988 to mid-1996. These corrected isotopic measurements support analyses of the global methane budget and its atmospheric composition.

Use Cases

• Modeling the global methane budget based on concentration and isotopic data from eight global sites.
• Investigating regional sources and sinks of methane based on isotopic composition (13C/12C) measurements.
• Analyzing temporal trends in atmospheric methane from the late 1980s to mid-1990s using the multi-year time series.
• Calibrating or validating atmospheric transport models with data from diverse geographic locations including the Pacific Ocean.

Strengths

• Measurements span eight years, from 1988 to mid-1996, providing a multi-year time series.
• Data is collected from eight distinct global land sites and NOAA Pacific Ocean cruises, offering geographic diversity.
• All isotopic measurements have been corrected for standard drift, indicating a level of quality control.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale modeling.

Provenance

Source

University of Washington, author Paul D. Quay; data hosted on the CDIAC/ESS-DIVE transition site.

Collection Method

Measurements from flask air samples collected at monitoring stations and aboard NOAA research vessels.

Time Range

1988 to mid-1996

Geography

Eight global sites (e.g., Olympic Peninsula, Cape Grim, Mauna Loa, Point Barrow) and NOAA Pacific Ocean cruises.