Posted on 05/17/2018 2:26:13 AM PDT by BBell
Emissions of a banned, ozone-depleting chemical are on the rise, a group of scientists reported Wednesday, suggesting someone may be secretly manufacturing the pollutant in violation of an international accord.
Emissions of CFC-11 have climbed 25 percent since 2012, despite the chemical being part of a group of ozone pollutants that were phased out under the 1987 Montreal Protocol.
Ive been making these measurements for more than 30 years, and this is the most surprising thing Ive seen, said Stephen Montzka, a scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who led the work. I was astounded by it, really.
Its a distressing result amid what is widely seen as a global environmental success story, in which nations alarmed by a growing ozone hole collectively took action to phase out chlorofluorocarbons.
The finding seems likely to prompt an international investigation into the mysterious source.
Officially, production of CFC-11 is supposed to be at or near zero at least, that is what countries have been telling the U.N. body that monitors and enforces the Montreal Protocol. But with emissions on the rise, scientists suspect someone is making the chemical in defiance of the ban.
Somebodys cheating, Durwood Zaelke, founder of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development and an expert on the Montreal Protocol, said in a comment on the new research. Theres some slight possibility theres an unintentional release, but they make it clear theres strong evidence this is actually being produced.
The scientists dont know exactly who, or where, that person would be. A U.S. observatory in Hawaii found CFC-11 mixed in with other gases that were characteristic of a source coming from somewhere in eastern Asia, but scientists could not narrow the area down any further.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Maybe some pre-1996 refrigerators were thrown away. This stuff was used in millions of tings, so I’m not going to panic. Impressive they can measure the release, though.
It’s Goebbels. Where is his photograph?
Have they asked Hawaii yet?
ISIS and even governments like the Paks are into anything that makes them money, legal or not. Likewise some Chinese who will be involved in anything that makes them money even when they know there’s a death penalty for dealing in it and people are routinely executed when caught.
The halocarbon CFC-11 has extensively been used as a blowing agent for polyurethane (PUR) insulation foams in home appliances and for residential and industrial construction. Release of CFCs is an important factor in the depletion of the ozone layer. For CFC-11 the future atmospheric concentrations will mainly depend on the continued release from PUR foams. Little is known about rates and time frames of the CFC release from foams especially after treatment and disposal of foam containing waste products. The CFC release is mainly controlled by slow diffusion out through the PUR. From the literature and by reevaluation of an old reported experiment, diffusion coefficients in the range of 0.05-1.7 x 10(-14) m2 s-1 were found reflecting differences in foam properties and experimental designs. Laboratory experiments studying the distribution of CFC in the foam and the short-term releases after shredding showed that about 40% of the CFC is solubilized in the PUR phase, and that up to 10% of the total content will be released within a few weeks if the foam is shredded down to 2-cm sized pieces. For smaller pieces the quick release will be larger. Fifty percent of residual CFC content will be released within 9-300 years from 2-cm pieces based on the range in diffusion coefficients reported. For larger pieces the initial release is insignificant, and the release time frames are much longer than for the shredded foam.
The Chinese using it in large building water chillers? Its a really good, efficient refrigerant.
China, of course. They produce twice as much pollution as the U.S., yet they’re exempt from scrutiny by the AGW alarmists. They put lead in kid’s toys, drugs in food, and poison in medicine they export to everyone else. What do they care about the ozone layer?
Nobody cares about the ozone layer, it's just another scam to handicap the US.
They mean China, but don't have the 'nads to come out and say so. Scientists only hate America.
So, everyone was making and using this stuff at one time and there was a possible problem ozone wise and now “someone somewhere” is cheating and it has a measurable impact? Bullshit.
Is it possible to secretly make 260 million pounds of cfc a year?
Aliens transforming our atmosphere in preparation for their invasion........They tried it before but got caught.
Naive little baby. There are countries manufacturing nuclear weaponry in full-view in violation of international arms agreements. There are other countries that secretly counterfeit US Currency in violation of our laws. There are people who manufacture Meth in their basements. Is it really so hard to believe that some group might earning some black market currency selling banned CFC's?
Scientists discount God as a player.
So, somehow a chemical that is heavier than air manages to get past air circulation patterns that generally separate mixing of air across the equator, but somehow travels all the way to antarctica from the northern hemisphere and somehow finds its way high into the stratosphere
NOW, NOW...Don’t let logic get in the way of a good story!
now thats climate change right there,, bam..
Actually, it is the one piece of mans impact on his world that is based on solid science, and the ozone layer does matter to us inhabitants of of the planet. Sunlight is a great thing - just not too much of it. UV is a powerful disinfectant, but you dont want to disinfect the entire planet.
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