The study, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, found PFTBA was 7,100 times more powerful at warming the Earth over a 100-year time span than CO2.
Concentrations of PFTBA in the atmosphere are low – 0.18 parts per trillion in the Toronto area – compared to 400 parts per million for carbon dioxide. So PFTBA does not in any way displace the burning of fossil fuels such as oil and coal as the main drivers of climate change.
Dr Drew Shindell, a climatologist at Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said:
"This is a warning to us that this gas could have a very very large impact on climate change – if there were a lot of it. Since there is not a lot of it now, we don't have to worry about it at present, but we have to make sure it doesn't grow and become a very large contributor to global warming.".
edit - is cool research, but the headline here is very badly judged.
Still, if it is in fact 7,1000 more powerful at warming the earth, wouldn't a concentration of 0.18 ppm have a greater impact on the climate than 400 ppm of CO2? Not sure if the math is that simple, but it's not obvious to me why there has to a much greater concentration for us to worry about it compared to CO2.
Parts per million versus parts per trillion. Assuming the math is that simple (I think it is), CO2 is the larger contributor by five orders of magnitude.
The study, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, found PFTBA was 7,100 times more powerful at warming the Earth over a 100-year time span than CO2.
Concentrations of PFTBA in the atmosphere are low – 0.18 parts per trillion in the Toronto area – compared to 400 parts per million for carbon dioxide. So PFTBA does not in any way displace the burning of fossil fuels such as oil and coal as the main drivers of climate change.
Dr Drew Shindell, a climatologist at Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said:
"This is a warning to us that this gas could have a very very large impact on climate change – if there were a lot of it. Since there is not a lot of it now, we don't have to worry about it at present, but we have to make sure it doesn't grow and become a very large contributor to global warming.".
edit - is cool research, but the headline here is very badly judged.