Hydrogen Level In Atmosphere Increased 70% To Heat Up Planet, Says Ozone Day Study
September 16 is marked as World Ozone Day to highlight the importance of preserving the life-saving layer. But humans continue to be a suicidal species. Want proof? Climate change, Earth-killing gases, plastic pollution, nuclear waste and now molecular hydrogen piling up in the Earth's atmosphere.?
A new study published in PNAS has revealed that levels of molecular hydrogen (H2) in the atmosphere have gone up in recent years - all owing to human actions.?
Hydrogen levels up by 70%
To measure the levels of atmospheric hydrogen, scientists analysed air samples from Antarctica's ice.?These samples were trapped in the drilled cores of Antarctic ice.?A 70 per cent spike in atmospheric hydrogen was witnessed over the 20th century.Even in the face of anti-pollution measures, hydrogen emissions have not slowed down and most likely won't.?
Molecular hydrogen is a natural part of Earth's atmosphere. It is also produced by consumption of fossil fuels, in the form of exhaust from automobiles and biomass burning.Indirectly, hydrogen is responsible for the distribution of methane and ozone.?
Also read:?World Ozone Day 2021: How Ozone Layer Protects Us On Earth, And It Needs Protecting
These two are greenhouse gases, along with carbon dioxide, making their unholy contribution to climate change equally potentially disastrous.Even then, atmospheric hydrogen remains understudied.?
Scientists can't even estimate how much hydrogen has been unleashed into the Earth's atmosphere, underlining the importance of this new study.Scientists from the University of California Irvine found that between 1852 and 2003, atmospheric hydrogen jumped from 330 parts per billion to 550 parts per billion.
Are hydrogen-producing industries given a free pass?
This paints a grim picture of how humans have underestimated hydrogen emissions, which are most likely being released without any check.Scientists believe that non-automobile sources of gas have been largely unexplored. It's important to note here that corporations that pollute the environment have strategically absolved themselves of much blame by coining terms like "carbon footprint", which places the onus of Earth's health on individual acts instead of decades-long damage done by mega corporations.?
Also read:?This Plant-Based Air Purifier Made By Indian Scientists Lowers Pollution In 15 Minutes
It's likely that these unaccounted sources of atmospheric hydrogen could emanate from industry exploiters. Scientists too feel that hydrogen leakage from industrial processes is never considered while measuring levels.?
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