Phys.org September 24, 2024 The causes for the rapid rise of atmospheric methane concentrations over the past decade have been unclear. An international team of researchers (USA – Harvard University, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, UK) found that emissions from the wet tropics drove the 2010–2019 increase and the subsequent 2020–2022 surge, while emissions from northern mid-latitudes decreased. The 2020–2022 surge was principally contributed by emissions in Equatorial Asia and Africa. Wetlands were the major drivers of the 2020–2022 emission increases in Africa and Equatorial Asia because of tropical inundation associated with La Niña conditions, consistent with trends in the GRACE terrestrial […]
Category Archives: Atmospheric pollution
Study predicts the oceans will start emitting ozone-depleting CFCs
MIT News March 15, 2021 The levels of CFC-11 in the atmosphere have been steadily declining since 2010 under the Montreal Protocol, ocean absorbing about 5 to 10 percent of all manufactured CFC-11 emissions. A team of researchers in the US (MIT, Colorado State University, UC Santa Barbara, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center) looked to pinpoint when the ocean would become a source of the chemical, and to what extent the ocean would contribute to CFC-11 concentrations in the atmosphere. Through a hierarchy of models to simulate the mixing within and between the ocean and atmosphere, and adding anthropogenic emissions […]