Environment
Cape Grim’s new detections
Please watch this video regarding Cape Grim air monitoring station.
Remember – this is where endosulfan (about to be classified as a POP – persistant organic pollutant) was detected after coming from the mainland and recorded in the Australian data.
And now two new gases have been found at Cape Grim that represent ‘general background atmospheric levels’.
They are a crop fumigant and a chemical found to come from plasma TVs.
And CO2 has risen by 15%.
I would consider this seriously bad news!
– Dr Alison Bleaney
Transcript:
soon …
And,
Climate station shows rising greenhouse gas levels
Sarah Clarke reported this story on Thursday, June 3, 2010 08:25:00
PETER CAVE: The Cape Grim Research Station in Tasmania enjoys some of the cleanest air on the planet and it’s for that very reason it’s the most important air measuring station in the Southern Hemisphere.
It’s recording the most precise account of the earth’s changing atmosphere and over the last 12 months, scientists have identified two potent new greenhouse gases that are accelerating rapidly.
The ABC’s environment reporter, Sarah Clarke, travelled to northwest Tasmania for this report.
SARAH CLARKE: It’s windy, cold and isolated, Cape Grim is at the most northwest point in Tasmania. It’s also home to some of the cleanest air in the world. Sam Cleland is from the Bureau of Meteorology.
SAM CLELAND: We’re down in the Roaring Forties on the west coast of Tasmania. The air that arrives here for a lot of the time has just travelled over the Southern Ocean, there’s no factory nearby, there’s nothing that might put local contaminants into the atmosphere. So what we measure here is base state of the global atmosphere.
SARAH CLARKE: Sam Cleland is also the manager of the Cape Grim Air Measuring Station perched on the cliffs overlooking the Southern Ocean. This site was chosen because of its remote position and the persistent westerly winds and it’s where Australia’s greenhouse gases are measured and fed into a global database monitoring the earth’s changing atmosphere.
SAME CLELAND: We’re one of the premier stations throughout the world, certainly, for measuring the base state of the atmosphere. We’re the best placed site in the Southern Hemisphere to measure what happens in the Southern Hemisphere and as a consequence we’ve developed a record that’s invaluable to the world community for gaining an understanding of what’s in the atmosphere.
SARAH CLARKE: Everyday a group of scientists take samples of air and feed them into an archive that holds 2,000 year records of greenhouse gases. Paul Fraser from the CSIRO has been here since the station opened in 1976, he says over the last 30 years CO2 levels have increased by 15 per cent.
PAUL FRASER: Almost entirely that increase in greenhouse, in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is due to the burning of fossil fuels and that’s entirely man made.
SARAH CLARKE: In fact 40 different types of greenhouse gases are measured at Cape Grim. But it’s two new gases, recently identified, that are accelerating rapidly.
One is called Nitrogen Trifluoride, used in the manufacture of plasma televisions, the other is Sulfuryl Fluoride a fumigant used on crops.
Here’s Paul Fraser again.
PAUL FRASER: I think they’re rising at somewhere between five and ten per cent a year, so they’re jumping up quite rapidly, from, you know, from virtually zero concentration not long ago.
SARAH CLARKE: The CSIRO says long term these gases will have climate warming potential.
PETER CLARKE: And that’s our reporter, our environment reporter, Sarah Clarke, shooting the breeze at Cape Grim in northwest Tasmania.
And, Clive Stott, http://www.cleanairtas.com
American Lung Association.
Dear Sir/Madam,
Congratulations on your new initiative to bring air pollution to the notice of the public.
http://www.lungusa.org/about-us/our-impact/top-stories/fighting-for-air-new.html
We are fighting for our share of clean air here in Tasmania, Australia and it would make me happy if your Association office bearers and members could be forwarded a copy of this email.
It is interesting how wood heater smoke is being blamed in Tasmania, Australia for the problem when our EPA have released figures verifying forestry’s deliberate plannedburns cause many, many times the pollution to our airsheds. (see the pie chart and read the text).
By going to the site below you can see the devastating effect smoke can have on one person.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Thank you and keep up the good work.
Kind regards,
Clive M. Stott
Clean air is one of our most precious resources, essential for our survival and quality of life.
http://www.cleanairtas.com