Greenhouse Gas on EARTH Magazine

Early spring thaw triggers Arctic greenhouse gas release

Tue, 14 Mar 2017 18:59:29 -0400

Researchers check on a gas flux measurement tower in Alaska after the annual spring thaw. Credit: Stan Wullschleger.

During the few short months of Arctic summer, plants and animals race to grow and reproduce, fueling the most active time in the Arctic carbon cycle. But in a new study, researchers examining one corner of the Arctic demonstrate that ecosystems in the icy north aren’t entirely shut down during the offseason, with pulses of carbon dioxide and methane released some years starting during the first spring thaw.

How soil management could help reduce greenhouse gas concentrations

Thu, 16 Feb 2017 15:51:12 -0500

Accounting for soils in greenhouse gas-related policies could benefit both emissions reduction and sequestration efforts, researchers say. Credit: Jing, CC0 Public Domain

As scientists continue studying the web of natural and anthropogenic processes that affect Earth’s climate, discussions about how to limit global warming have included proposals both to cut emissions and to increase sequestration of greenhouse gases through a variety of methods.

Comment: How long have humans been altering Earth's climate?

Thu, 07 Apr 2016 18:48:29 -0400

The early anthropogenic hypothesis holds that prolonged warmth in the Holocene was caused by early agriculture. Paleoclimatologists have long sought an analog of the current Holocene interglaciation. Here, precession (A) and obliquity (B), which impact solar insolation, and atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations (C) of previous interglaciations are compared with the Holocene (stage 1). The closest analog to the Holocene is stage 19, which began about 787,000 years ago. Credit: Ruddiman et al., Review of Geophysics, 2016.

Throughout the 20th century the paleoclimate science community regarded the warmth of the current (Holocene) interglaciation — prior to the major anthropogenic intervention of the last 150 years — as overwhelmingly natural in origin. In this view, changes in Earth’s orbit had resulted in increased summer insolation at high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, which began melting the North American and Scandinavian ice sheets 17,000 years ago and eventually ushered in interglacial warmth. Although further orbital shifts then led summer insolation to begin decreasing 10,000 years ago, the drop was thought not to have been substantial enough to cause renewed glaciation.

No laughing matter: Ocean nitrous oxide emissions greater than thought

Thu, 12 Nov 2015 08:46:09 -0500

High productivity ecosystems like the upwelling zone off the coast of Peru, which once supported an abundant anchovy fishery before overfishing collapsed it in the 1970s and ‘80s, also create oxygen minimum zones where high fluxes of nitrous oxide are produced. Credit: ©Shutterstock.com/Sven Schermer.

Nitrous oxide is a potent greenhouse gas and, since the banning of chlorofluorocarbons in 1987, it has become the main driver of ozone loss from the stratosphere. Most atmospheric nitrous oxide is emitted from agricultural land and soils, but roughly a third is thought to come from the ocean. However, marine sources and sinks of the gas are not well understood.

Methane be dammed!

Mon, 09 Mar 2015 11:08:51 -0400

Ponds and wetlands created by beaver dams, like this one in Rhode Island, may produce significant amounts of methane. Credit: Mary Caperton Morton.

Beavers were nearly killed off in the 19th century as trappers hunted them for their soft pelts. A successful conservation effort over the past 100 years brought the dam-builders back from the brink, but a new study published in the journal AMBIO has found that all those beaver-built ponds may be producing significant amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas.

Down to Earth With: Deanna D'Alessandro

Tue, 27 Jan 2015 10:41:46 -0500

Deanna D'Alessandro. Credit: Sam D'Agostino, SDP Photo.

Deanna D’Alessandro, a chemist at the University of Sydney in Australia, is working on a new material that may make it cheaper and easier to clean greenhouse gases from power plant emissions. D’Alessandro has developed crystals composed of metals and organic molecules that can trap molecules of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, and release them on cue — or even transform them into more useful compounds. Her work won her one of three L’Oreal Australia For Women in Science Fellowships given last year.

Comment: The search for clarity on climate change

Thu, 31 Jul 2014 12:34:41 -0400

Straightforward scientific conclusions about climate change often fail to reach policymakers and the broader society. Climate scientists need to revise their communication strategies to close the vast gap in understanding that persists between what is known about climate change and how the public perceives the issue.

Swapping one greenhouse gas for another

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

There are no miracle cures, it would seem. Nitrogen trifluoride is a colorless, nontoxic gas that has helped make the semiconductor industry greener by replacing a well-known greenhouse gas threat. But nitrogen trifluoride is a powerful greenhouse gas in its own right, with a potential impact on climate 17,000 times greater than carbon dioxide — and it is currently unregulated. As industrial production of the gas continues to grow — used in the manufacture of LCD flat screens — scientists, manufacturers and environmental regulators ought to be keeping a much closer eye on this “missing” greenhouse gas, a new study says.