Reactive Tropospheric Chemistry
Résumé
This chapter lists a variety of methods that can be used today to measure and detect methane and many of the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are ubiquitous in the global atmosphere. It shows how, while each of the VOCs is found in trace concentrations in the atmosphere, their large number makes them the fuel of tropospheric chemistry. Methane (CH 4 ) is the second most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), with a 100-year warming potential 28 times larger than CO 2 according to the IPCC. Reactive organic species are typically those with an atom of carbon or more, and an atom of hydrogen or more. This notation is used to differentiate reactive carbon from carbon monoxide and CO 2 , which are less reactive and at the end of the reactive organic carbon cascade.