Preprints
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2676
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2676
21 Jul 2025
 | 21 Jul 2025
Status: this preprint is open for discussion and under review for Geoscientific Model Development (GMD).

Development of Fully Interactive Hydrogen with Methane in UKESM1.0

Megan A. J. Brown, Nicola J . Warwick, Nathan Luke Abraham, Paul T. Griffiths, Steve T. Rumbold, Gerd A. Folberth, Fiona M. O'Connor, and Alex T. Archibald

Abstract. Hydrogen is a potential candidate for an alternate energy source and carrier. As usage of hydrogen in industry rises, leakages into the atmosphere may occur, causing an increase in the global atmospheric hydrogen concentration. Hydrogen is an indirect greenhouse gas, known to increase methane, stratospheric water vapour, and tropospheric ozone. Methane and hydrogen are closely coupled, with the main atmospheric destructive pathway of both species being via reaction with the hydroxyl radical (OH). Currently, most earth system models (ESMs) simulate hydrogen or methane with a prescribed lower boundary condition, which suppresses chemical feedbacks at the surface. In this work, we implement hydrogen emissions and a hydrogen soil uptake scheme into an ESM with free-running methane to demonstrate the capability of a fully interactive hydrogen and methane emissions-driven ESM. We show that the model is able to capture long term trends and seasonal cycles of both species when compared to observations, and find that the inclusion of both fluxes does not impact other chemical species in the model, such as tropospheric ozone. methane destruction, although further experimentation is needed. We show that the model can be used under pre-industrial conditions and with a hydrogen pulse experiment. The ESM with fully coupled hydrogen and methane chemistry has great potential to be used in future scenarios and to estimate a more accurate global warming potential of hydrogen.

Competing interests: At least one of the (co-)authors is a member of the editorial board of Geoscientific Model Development.

Publisher's note: Copernicus Publications remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims made in the text, published maps, institutional affiliations, or any other geographical representation in this paper. While Copernicus Publications makes every effort to include appropriate place names, the final responsibility lies with the authors. Views expressed in the text are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher.
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Megan A. J. Brown, Nicola J . Warwick, Nathan Luke Abraham, Paul T. Griffiths, Steve T. Rumbold, Gerd A. Folberth, Fiona M. O'Connor, and Alex T. Archibald

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Megan A. J. Brown, Nicola J . Warwick, Nathan Luke Abraham, Paul T. Griffiths, Steve T. Rumbold, Gerd A. Folberth, Fiona M. O'Connor, and Alex T. Archibald
Megan A. J. Brown, Nicola J . Warwick, Nathan Luke Abraham, Paul T. Griffiths, Steve T. Rumbold, Gerd A. Folberth, Fiona M. O'Connor, and Alex T. Archibald

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Short summary
Hydrogen (H2) is an indirect greenhouse gas by increasing methane (CH4) lifetime. Interaction between H2 and CH4 is important for hydrogen’s global warming potential (GWP). Global models do not represent this interaction well; H2 or CH4 are prescribed at the surface. We implement an interactive H2 scheme into a global model coupled with interactive CH4. We simulate scenarios demonstrating its capability, improving model performance and more accurately representing H2-CH4 interaction.
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