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How long does methane usually remain in the atmosphere compared with carbon dioxide?

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World map shaded to show annual carbon dioxide emissions by country in 2022, with China, the United States, and India highlighted as top emitters in dark red. A bar chart below lists the top ten emitting countries by million metric tons. — Greenhouse gas Map of annual carbon dioxide emissions by country in 2014.

Methane (CH $_{4}$ ) has a significantly shorter residence time in the atmosphere compared to carbon dioxide (CO $_{2}$ ). While methane typically remains in the atmosphere for roughly 10 years, carbon dioxide persists for hundreds of years.123

Despite this shorter lifespan, methane is a more potent greenhouse gas than CO $_{2}$ because it produces greater radiative forcing per molecule and absorbs radiation in a less saturated portion of the infrared window. However, because methane exists in much lower concentrations than CO $_{2}$ , its overall contribution to the greenhouse effect is different.132