* Astronomy

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RE: Greenhouse Gases

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NRL Scientists Detect Carbon Dioxide Accumulation at the Edge of Space

A team of scientists from the Naval Research Laboratory, Old Dominion University, and the University of Waterloo reports the first direct evidence that emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) caused by human activity are propagating upward to the highest regions of the atmosphere. The observed CO2 increase is expected to gradually result in a cooler, more contracted upper atmosphere and a consequent reduction in the atmospheric drag experienced by satellites. The team published its findings in Nature Geoscience on November 11, 2012 (10.1038/NGEO1626).
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Sky-high methane mystery closer to being solved, UCI researchers say

Commercial natural gas was likely major factor in late-20th century stabilisation

Increased capture of natural gas from oil fields probably accounts for up to 70 percent of the dramatic levelling off seen in atmospheric methane at the end of the 20th century, according to new UC Irvine research being published Thursday, Aug. 23, in the journal Nature.
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Arctic melt releasing ancient methane

Scientists have identified thousands of sites in the Arctic where methane that has been stored for many millennia is bubbling into the atmosphere.
The methane has been trapped by ice, but is able to escape as the ice melts.
Writing in the journal Nature Geoscience, the researchers say this ancient gas could have a significant impact on climate change.
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CO2 storage site

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RE: Greenhouse Gases

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Greenhouse gas levels hit record in 2010

The amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached a record level in 2010 and rose faster last year than the average over the past decade, the annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin published by the World Meteorological Organization on Monday said.
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"Missing" Global Heat May Hide in Deep Oceans

The mystery of Earth's missing heat may have been solved: it could lurk deep in oceans, temporarily masking the climate-warming effects of greenhouse gas emissions, researchers reported on Sunday.
Climate scientists have long wondered where this so-called missing heat was going, especially over the last decade, when greenhouse emissions kept increasing but world air temperatures did not rise correspondingly.
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New theories over methane puzzle

Scientists say that there has been a mysterious decline in the growth of methane in the atmosphere in the last decades of the 20th century.
Researchers writing in the journal Nature have come up with two widely differing theories as to the cause.
One suggests the decline was caused by greater commercial use of natural gas, the other that increased use in Asia of artificial fertiliser was responsible.
Both studies agree that human activities are the key element.
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Largest recorded tundra fire yields scientific surprises

In 2007, the largest recorded tundra fire in the Arctic released approximately as much carbon into the atmosphere as the tundra has stored in the previous 50 years.
A study of the Anaktuvuk River fire on Alaska's North Slope revealed how rapidly a single tundra fire can offset or reverse a half-century worth of soil-stored carbon. The study's results are published in the July 28 issue of the journal Nature.
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