International scientists are meeting in Hobart this week to discuss the ongoing need for global monitoring of gases responsible for ozone depletion and climate change.
The meeting will be the 33rd gathering of scientists and cooperating networks associated with the Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment (AGAGE).
According to CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research’s Dr Paul Fraser, AGAGE is unique in its capability to make frequent and global measurements of almost all of the ozone-depleting gases listed in the Montreal Protocol, and most of the greenhouse gases listed in the Kyoto Protocol.
"This information is vital for furthering our understanding of global chemical and climatic phenomena, and will therefore underpin efforts to both protect the ozone layer and respond to climate change," Dr Fraser says.
An advantage of the real-time measurements – taken up to 30 times a day at five stations around the world – is the ability to detect regional as well as global emissions and provide individual nations with the information they need to assess their emissions levels.
“This information is vital for furthering our understanding of global chemical and climatic phenomena, and will therefore underpin efforts to both protect the ozone layer and respond to climate change,”
Dr Fraser says.
"For example, from AGAGE measurements taken at the Bureau of Meteorology’s Baseline Station at Cape Grim, Tasmania, we can detect and quantify emissions from south-east Australia, including Melbourne," Dr Fraser says.
Significant results of the experiment, which has been in operation since 1978, are that atmospheric levels of the important greenhouse gas methane have stopped growing and ozone-depleting chemicals – most importantly the CFCs – are in decline.
However the replacements to ozone-depleting chemicals are themselves powerful greenhouse gases, and are growing rapidly. Production of the third most important greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide, is also growing.
Scientists at this week’s AGAGE meeting will discuss ways of further improving methods used to measure the evolving composition of the Earth’s atmosphere and will make new estimates of global and regional emissions of HFCs, halon and nitrous oxide.
The Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station is funded and managed by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, and the scientific program is jointly supervised with CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research. The Australian AGAGE activity is funded by CSIRO, Bureau of Meteorology and NASA.
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