Carbon Purging

Researchers at MIT have identified a potent new greenhouse gas- sulfuryl fluoride (SO₂F₂). Approved in 2003 by the EPA, it is a gas currently used for fumigation, especially of strawberries, and it has the potential to contribute significantly to anthropogenic global warming in the future.

Its lifetime is approximately 36 years, which is eight times longer than had been thought before. It is about 4,800 times more potent in trapping heat than carbon dioxide.

Its production has not yet reached high levels, which is good news, and it only makes up a very small percentage of our atmosphere. It has increased by about 5% per year from 1.08 ppt in 1999 to 1.53 ppt in May 2007 in the Northern Hemisphere, and from .3 ppt (parts per trillion) in 1978 to 1.35 ppt in May 2007 in the Southern Hemisphere. With average sulfuryl fluoride ratios in Earth's atmosphere of 1.4 ppt, its greenhouse gas effect is small. However, with a high global warming potential similar to trichlorofluoromethane (CFC-11), and with increased use in the future being very likely due to industry using it as a replacement fumigant, now would be a great time to find a substitute, or to start a cap and trade program on it.

Here's a good video on the basics of global warming from National Geographic.

The Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite or GOSAT, also known as Ibuki (いぶき, meaning "breath" in Japanese), is an Earth observation satellite and the world's first satellite dedicated to greenhouse-gas-monitoring, which will be used to measure densities of carbon dioxide and methane from 56,000 locations on the Earth's atmosphere. The GOSAT was developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and launched on January 23, 2009, from the Tanegashima Space Center. Japan's Ministry of the Environment, and National Institute for Environmental Studies will use the data to track one of the gases causing the greenhouse effect, and the data will be shared with NASA and other space and scientific organizations in other countries.

Harvard University will be flying a modified Gulfstream V jet, dubbed Hippo, with specialized equipment between the North and South Poles to test Earth’s atmosphere for variations in greenhouse gases.

They plan to use the data to help improve computer models used to predict the effects of global warming.

It will fly at varying altitudes to test carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gas concentrations to determine where the gases are being released and absorbed at a high rates.

The name Hippo, the mission’s acronym, stands for Hiaper Pole-to-Pole Observations. Hiaper stands for High-performance Instrumented Airborne Platform for Environmental Research.