According to a new study, published in Geophysical Research Letters, thousands of tons of global-warming and ozone-depleting chemicals were released into the atmosphere, following the Tohoku 2011 earthquake. The new study is the first to show the importance of including the release of gases from natural disasters in emissions estimates.
The magnitude 9.0 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan four years ago, was not only responsible for the disaster of the Fukushima nuclear plant, but also damaged thousands of buildings. As a result of the building destruction, about 6,600 metric tons (7,275 U.S. tons) of gases stored in insulation, appliances and other equipment were released into the atmosphere. Halocarbons levels increased from 21 to 91 percent above typical levels following the earthquake. The particular findings are part of a new study, titled "Extraordinary halocarbon emissions initiated by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake", accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union.
According to the authors, the study is the first to look into how natural disasters may impact the emission of such gases. T. Saito of the National Institute for Environmental Studies in Japan, along with his colleagues, investigated halocarbon emissions before and after the earthquake, when noticing a peak in the measurements of ground-based air monitoring stations. The peak occurred soon after the earthquake. What the team discovered was that halocarbons levels were higher from March 2011 to February 2012, after the earthquake, than they were during the same time frame the year before as well as the year after. Halocarbons along with other gases detected in the emissions, which are no longer in use due to their harmful effect on the environment, are responsible for the ozone layer depletion and global temperature rise.
Scientists also assessed the impact of the increased emissions on the ozone layer depletion and global warming estimating a 38 percent increase in the gases linked with ozone loss due to Japanese emissions from March 2011 to February 2012. Additionally, the amount of heat trapped in the atmosphere rose by 36 percent within the same time frame compared to earlier and later years.
Saito highlights another major contribution of his study, namely the need to adopt a "top-down" approach and rely on actual measurements of gases for assessing their effects on the global warming effect. So far governments rely on inventories of chemicals and generic data about their use to estimate emitted amounts in the air. Saito, based on the Japan earthquake example supports that there are unreported emissions in this practice.
Source: AGU
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