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Methane plays many important roles in the Earth's environment. It is a potent "greenhouse gas" that warms the Earth, controls the oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere (OH) indirectly affecting the cycles and abundances of many atmospheric trace gases, provides water vapour to the stratosphere, scavenges chlorine atoms from the stratosphere, produces ozone, CO, and CO2 in the troposphere, and is an index of life on Earth. By all measures, methane is second only to CO2 in causing future global warming. The book presents a comprehensive account of the current understanding of atmospheric methane, and summarizes more than a decade of intensive research on the global sources, sinks, concentrations and environmental role of methane.