During three measurement campaigns on the Baltic and North Seas, atmospheric and dissolved methane was determined with an automated gas chromatographic system. Area-weighted mean saturation values in the sea surface waters were 113¿5% and 395¿82% (Baltic Sea, February and July 1992) and 126¿8% (south central North Sea, September 1992). On the bases of our data and a compilation of literature data the global oceanic emissions of methane were reassessed by introducing a concept of regional gas transfer coefficients. Our estimates computed with two different air-sea exchange models lie in the range of 11--18 Tg CH4 yr-1. Despite the fact that shelf areas and estuaries only represent a small part of the world's ocean they contribute about 75% to the global oceanic emissions. We applied a simple, coupled, three-layer model to evaluate the time dependent variation of the oceanic flux to the atmosphere. The model calculations indicate that even with increasing tropospheric methane concentration, the ocean will remain a source of atmospheric methane. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1994