Reply To: Climate Crisis: Our Last Chance
Even more bad news
A new study shows that emissions of a potent greenhouse gas from thawing permafrost in the planet’s northernmost region may be 12 times higher than previously thought. Nitrous oxide (N2O), a greenhouse gas nearly 300 times more potent than CO2, stays in the atmosphere for an average of 114 years
N2O “has conventionally been assumed to have minimal emissions in permafrost regions,” But the new study’s findings challenge that assumption.
Planetary warming isn’t the only threat posed by rising N2O emissions.
“Nitrous oxide poses a second, special threat,” the statement said. “Up in the stratosphere, sunlight and oxygen team up to convert the gas into nitrogen oxides, which eat at the ozone.”