Is this actually forgotten in science or is just not part of the political discussion? I.e. is it included in the models that scientists use to predict global warming?
[deleted]
Nitrous Oxide – A forgotten greenhouse gas
11–20 of 79 posts
Re: Nitrous Oxide – A forgotten greenhouse gas
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wait till they learn about methane. It is respectable 100 times more potent than CO2 and it is produced naturally in vast quantities in thawing permafrost. It is ironic that the biggest producer of greenhouse gasses will soon be Siberia.
N2O is about x10 worse per unit over 100 years: https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/understanding-global-warmin...
N2O is produced by people and we have choice to turn that production off or at least limit it.
We can't control production of methane anymore.
Re: Nitrous Oxide – A forgotten greenhouse gas
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
N2O is about x10 worse per unit over 100 years: https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/understanding-global-warmin...
N2O is produced by people and we have choice to turn that production off or at least limit it. We can't control production of methane anymore.
We can greatly reduce production of methane, even if not eliminate it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane_emissions
Re: Nitrous Oxide – A forgotten greenhouse gas
#14It's good to see this start to be part of the discussion.
To remind everyone; we're headed for a global calamity of unprecedented scale. We need to change our approach with regards to our life support system (i.e. the eco ecosystem) and how much damage we're doing to it.
Nature is resilient, very much so. Biological processes are resilient to an incredible degree. This has allowed humanity to do astonishingly destructive things without too many repercussions. Resilience has hidden most of the damage we've caused. But we're pushing it to the breaking point and pushing ever harder every year.
Human systems are not resilient. They are optimized for "efficiency". We've seen what disruptions even a relative harmless virus like Covid19 can do the the global economy.
People need to take these issues seriously and things need to change.
Re: Nitrous Oxide – A forgotten greenhouse gas
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wait till they learn about methane. It is respectable 100 times more potent than CO2 and it is produced naturally in vast quantities in thawing permafrost. It is ironic that the biggest producer of greenhouse gasses will soon be Siberia.
At least methane has a very short life in the atmosphere. N2O and these other gases last hundreds of years before breaking down.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_methane_emissions
Quote: They conclude that "release of up to 50 Gt of predicted amount of hydrate storage [is] highly possible for abrupt release at any time"
See... there is a big bomb right over there. Methane might be 10 times less potent and it might be decaying couple of times faster, but there are many orders of magnitude more of it.
Re: Nitrous Oxide – A forgotten greenhouse gas
#16Is this actually forgotten in science or is just not part of the political discussion? I.e. is it included in the models that scientists use to predict global warming?
N2O is included in climate models (e.g [0]), partly (as noted in this article) because it is an effective GHG. It is also important for ozone chemistry and understanding ozone depletion [1].
[0] - https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2019JD03...
Re: Nitrous Oxide – A forgotten greenhouse gas
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
N2O is produced by people and we have choice to turn that production off or at least limit it. We can't control production of methane anymore.
We can greatly reduce production of methane, even if not eliminate it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane_emissions
Have you understood what I wrote?
Methane is being emitted in a natural process from thawing permafrost. There are vast quantities of organic matter that has been frozen for thousands of years and is now starting getting eaten by bacteria that produce methane.
All human-made emissions pale in comparison to natural process.
There is no way to turn it off unless you can build a giant AC unit over entire arctic or maybe you can dig entire siberian soil and send it to Mars.
Re: Nitrous Oxide – A forgotten greenhouse gas
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wait till they learn about methane. It is respectable 100 times more potent than CO2 and it is produced naturally in vast quantities in thawing permafrost. It is ironic that the biggest producer of greenhouse gasses will soon be Siberia.
At least methane has a very short life in the atmosphere. N2O and these other gases last hundreds of years before breaking down.
That's only partly true, since methane in the atmosphere decomposes into CO2. The methane itself causes a short powerful greenhouse effect, then decays into another long-term greenhouse gas.
Re: Nitrous Oxide – A forgotten greenhouse gas
#19Is this actually forgotten in science or is just not part of the political discussion? I.e. is it included in the models that scientists use to predict global warming?
I'm not a climate expert but already heard of this concern. It is well known in the scientific community, for more reasons than just gas emissions actually. The current techniques destroy many elements from the soil, making it very poor, which in turns increases the need for fertilizer, and leads to less biodiversity and more pollution.
The IPCC is explaining in details the impact of N2O, since the 90s [1]. The IPCC is also providing synthesis to stakeholders, but I didn't check what are their stance on N2O in these summaries.
I would say it's more absent from political discussion, which is only half true. If you promote organic agriculture (which is already subsidized in many countries), you're de facto inciting farmers to reduce the use of fertilizers, leading to less N2O emissions.
[1] https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/05/ipcc_wg_I_19...
Re: Nitrous Oxide – A forgotten greenhouse gas
#20Wait til they learn about nitrogen trifluoride and silicon hexafluoride.
I think you meant to say sulfur hexafluoride, not silicon hexafluoride. SF6 is the most potent known greenhouse gas.
SiF6 is an ion of hexafluorosilicic acid and its salts (the hexafluorosilicates).