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Recent increases in global HFC‐23 emissions
Author(s) -
Montzka S. A.,
Kuijpers L.,
Battle M. O.,
Aydin M.,
Verhulst K. R.,
Saltzman E. S.,
Fahey D. W.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2009gl041195
Subject(s) - firn , southern hemisphere , environmental science , atmospheric sciences , united nations framework convention on climate change , climate change , greenhouse gas , northern hemisphere , climatology , snow , meteorology , geography , physics , geology , kyoto protocol , oceanography
Firn‐air and ambient air measurements of CHF 3 (HFC‐23) from three excursions to Antarctica between 2001 and 2009 are used to construct a consistent Southern Hemisphere (SH) atmospheric history. The results show atmospheric mixing ratios of HFC‐23 continuing to increase through 2008. Mean global emissions derived from this data for 2006–2008 are 13.5 ± 2 Gg/yr (200 ± 30 × 10 12 gCO 2 ‐equivalent/yr, or MtCO 2 ‐eq./yr), ∼50% higher than the 8.7 ± 1 Gg/yr (130 ± 15 MtCO 2 ‐eq./yr) derived for the 1990s. HFC‐23 emissions arise primarily from over‐fluorination of chloroform during HCFC‐22 production. The recent global emission increases are attributed to rapidly increasing HCFC‐22 production in developing countries since reported HFC‐23 emissions from developed countries decreased over this period. The emissions inferred here for developing countries during 2006–2008 averaged 11 ± 2 Gg/yr HFC‐23 (160 ± 30 MtCO 2 ‐eq./yr) and are larger than the ∼6 Gg/yr of HFC‐23 destroyed in United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Clean Development Mechanism projects during 2007 and 2008.