NASA Helps Identify Uptick in Emissions of Ozone-Depleting Compounds
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- Written by:
- Lara Streiff
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- Scientific consulting by:
- Qing Liang
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- Produced by:
- Kathleen Gaeta
- View full credits
NASA computer models help scientists identify an uptick in emissions of CFC-11, an ozone-depleting gas, in the atmosphere. NASA and NOAA work together, as part of a long-running research partnership, monitoring efforts on stratospheric ozone. This research continues their partnership, joining scientists from MIT and the University of Bristol.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
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Writer
- Lara Streiff (GSFC Interns) [Lead]
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Scientists
- Qing Liang (USRA) [Lead]
- Paul Newman (NASA/GSFC)
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Producer
- Kathleen Gaeta (GSFC Interns) [Lead]
Series
This visualization can be found in the following series:Related Pages
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ID: 3973 Visualization
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ID: 4272 Visualization
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Read moreEarth's atmosphere contains an unexpectedly large amount of an ozone-depleting compound from an unknown source decades after the compound was banned worldwide.The compound, carbon tetrachloride, was used in applications such as dry cleaning and as a fire-extinguishing agent, until its regulation in 1987 under the Montreal Protocol along with other chlorofluorocarbons that destroy ozone and contribute to the ozone hole over Antarctica. Parties to the Montreal Protocol reported zero new emissions between 2007-2012.However, new research led by Qing Liang at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, shows that worldwide emissions of carbon tetrachloride average 39 kilotons per year – approximately 30 percent of peak emissions prior to the international treaty going into effect. Now that scientists have quantified the emissions they can begin investigating where they are coming from. Are there industrial leakages, large emissions from contaminated sites, or some other unknown source? ||
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ID: 826 Visualization
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Read moreMost stratospheric chlorine comes from man-made compounds called chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs. CFCs, widely used in refrigerators and air conditioners, are quite harmless and non-reactive in the lower atmosphere. Carried slowly upward by the earth's winds, they can survive the 5 year journey to the upper stratosphere. Here, above most of the ozone layer, the sun's ultraviolet radiation breaks down the CFCs into the more reactive chlorine compounds that destroy ozone. Chlorine can react with methane to form hydrogen chloride. Chlorine can also react with ozone forming the radical chlorine monoxide. Chlorine monoxide then combines with the radical nitrogen dioxide to form stable chlorine nitrate. Chlorine nitrate and hydrogen chloride are called reservoir gases for the chlorine radical. These reservoir gases usually contain more than ninety percent of the chlorine in the lower stratosphere. ||
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