Before revision:  Understanding the development of trends and identifying trend reversals in decadal time series is becoming more and more important.
After revision: Ethane is the most abundant non-methane hydrocarbon in the Earth's atmosphere and an important precursor of tropospheric ozone through various chemical pathways. Ethane is also an indirect greenhouse gas (global warming potential), influencing the atmospheric lifetime of methane through the consumption of the hydroxyl radical (OH). Understanding the development of trends and identifying trend reversals in decadal time series is becoming more and more important.