Scientists just discovered that there has been about 25 to 40% under-estimation of human contribution to methane in our atmosphere.

Earth’s atmosphere is crucial for living beings on the surface. It protects from the harmful radiation beaming from the Sun and other sources in space. It also directly regulates the planets climate. So, if you find any significant changes in the climate, one of the first suspect would be a changing atmosphere. Indeed, scientists have noted a correlation between increased CO 2 (carbon-dioxide) in the atmosphere and global temperatures, over broad ranges of time​.

Like CO 2 , other gases like methane (CH 4 ) and water vapour (H 2 O) also cause an increase in temperature of the planet. They do so by blocking heat to escape from the surface of the planet. This effect is called the greenhouse effect and causes global warming leading to climate change.

Methane is the second largest contributor to global warming attributed to human activity, after carbon dioxide. Fossil fuel extraction and its use is known to be a major human activity leading to more methane in the atmosphere. But, compared to carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, methane has a relatively short shelf-life. It lasts, on average, only around nine years in the atmosphere. Compare this to carbon dioxide which can persist for even up to a 100 years. So, curbing methane emissions can give us relatively quick insights in to how modifying our fuel sources can have an impact on the climate.

Methane (CH 4 ) released into the atmosphere can be distinguished into two categories,