Yet another greenhouse gas
In July, a feature in Nature Reports Climate Change
first reported concerns that Nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), a greenhouse gas at least 12,000 times more potent than carbon dioxide, could be substantially more prevalent in the atmosphere than previously estimated.
Now the first actual measurements of the gas, conducted at two clean-air sites in California and Tasmania, confirm that University of California chemist Michael Prather’s initial suspicion was right: The gas, widely used as an etchant in the plasma screen production process, does escape in quite significant amounts to the atmosphere, scientists with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography have found.
Over the last 30 years, the atmospheric concentration of NF3 has increased more than 20-fold, they write in a paper in press at Geophysical Research Letters (subscription). The overall amount of the gas in the atmosphere, currently some 5,400 tonnes, is rising by 11% per year.
In light of these new measurements, the idea that the global warming potential of atmospheric NF3 is negligible must surely be revised. The Nature news story here has more details and explains what experts say should be done about the problem.
Quirin Schiermeier
Image: Punchstock
Comments
Do you mean NF3, rather than ammonia?
Posted by: Geoffrey | October 27, 2008 05:33 PM
Ammonia is NH3, whereas nitrogen trifluoride is NF3.
thanks
Olive
Posted by: Olive Heffernan | October 28, 2008 04:26 PM
How anyone can still deny AGW is uttely beyond my comprehension. I recommend the History Channel's current treatment of global warming and climate change as an antidote to the AGW deniers.
jadavison.wordpress.com
Posted by: John A. Davison | December 19, 2008 11:51 AM