We report a detection of methane in the martian atmosphere by the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer onboard the Mars Express spacecraft. The global average methane mixing ratio is found to be 10 +/- 5 parts per billion by volume (ppbv). However, the mixing ratio varies between 0 and 30 ppbv over the planet. The source of methane could be either biogenic or nonbiogenic, including past or present su...

Development unavoidably impacts the ecosystems constituting Earth’s biosphere, often producing complex outcomes across a range of spatial and temporal scales. The interconnectivity of global ecosystems and their varied responses to disturbance necessitate great caution when using or encountering terms such as “sustainable” and “sustainability”. The Environment Ontology (ENVO; www.environmentont...

The detectability of planetesimal impacts on imaged exoplanets can be measured using Jupiter during the 1994 comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 events as a proxy. By integrating the whole planet flux with and without impact spots, the effect of the impacts at wavelengths from 2 4 μm is revealed. Jupiter’s reflected light spectrum in the near-infrared is dominated by its methane opacity including a deep ban...

conjunction with horizontal drilling. However, the environmental implications of NG production and its use have been called into question.1-4 One of the major concerns is the amount methane (CH4) leakage from production activities and its impact on the life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of NG. Examining the Impacts of Methane Leakage on Life-Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Shale and Co...

Production and build-up of sulfide and methane in wastewater collections systems cause several detrimental effects including odour nuisance, health hazards due to its toxicity and corrosion of pipes and inlet structures of sewage treatment plants. On the other hand methane is a greenhouse gas significantly contributing to global warming. Despite these major impacts, sewer-produced sulfide and m...

Human populations and their use of land have transformed most of the terrestrial biosphere into anthropogenic biomes (anthromes), causing a variety of novel ecological patterns and processes to emerge. To assess whether human populations and their use of land have directly altered the terrestrial biosphere sufficiently to indicate that the Earth system has entered a new geological epoch, spatia...