An experimental study was conducted to examine the characteristics of laminar methane-oxygen diffusion flames up to 100 atmospheres. The influence of pressure on soot formation and on the structure of the temperature field was investigated over the pressure range of 10-90 atmospheres in a high-pressure combustion chamber using a non-intrusive, line-of-sight spectral soot emission diagnostic technique. Two distinct zones characterized the appearance of a methane and pure oxygen diffusion flame: an inner luminous zone similar to the methane-air diffusion flames, and an outer diffusion flame zone which is mostly blue. The flame height, marked by the visible soot radiation emission, was reduced by over 50% over the pressure range of 10-100 atmospheres. Between 10 and 40 atmospheres, the soot levels increased with increasing pressure; however, above 40 atmospheres the soot concentrations decreased with increasing pressure. (C) 2009 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.