It was presented that a contrastive study on the AIRS retrieval results and the observational data of methane concentration at Waliguan atmospheric background station, and was analyzed that the distribution variation characteristics of atmospheric methane concentration over the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau from 2003 to 2015. It was showed that the AIRS retrieval data displayed the same monthly, annual and seasonal variation trend, as well as segmental variation characteristics, with those of Waliguan station. The methane concentration was featured high in the southeast and low in the northwest along with the geographical line of the east edge of Qiangtang Plateau-the northwest region of Resource of Three rivers, and decreased significantly as the altitude rose, with the highest and the most sensitive variability in the south central region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. From 2003 to 2015, the methane concentration in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau continued to rise, with the fastest growth in autumnand the slowest in winter, at an annual growth rate of 5.2nmol/(mol·a), while the growth rate from 2013 to 2015 was lower than the global average. The seasonal variation showed a unimodal curve, with the highest value in summer and the lowest value in spring, and with the altitude rising, the seasonal variation was more significant.