
Scientists Discover First Methane Leak in Antarctica; Warn of Warming Threat - makerofspoons
https://weather.com/en-IN/india/science/news/2020-07-28-scientists-discover-first-methane-leak-in-antarctica-global-warming
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ncmncm
> " _Methane is the second-most effective gas at warming our atmosphere..._ "

It is hard to know what is meant here. Methane is ~25x more effective as a
greenhouse gas than CO2 or water vapor. But there are lots worse.

A far, far more effective greenhouse gas is HFC. (I know, HFC is a family of
formulations. Still.) The number I have seen is 2500x. The amount of HFCs in
currently deployed refrigeration systems, if vented, would trap as much heat
as all the CO2 already in the atmosphere. Once vented there is no prospect of
recovering it, and it lasts much longer in the atmosphere than CO2 because
nothing consumes it.

We used to think HFCs saved the world from ultimate disaster by displacing
from refrigeration systems the CFCs that were destroying the ozone layer. Now
we know it's a ticking bomb. How hard will it be to gather in, drain, and
replace all the existing A/C and refrigerator equipment currently using HFCs?

At least HFCs don't acidify oceans. If we can get the CO2 down, preventing
conversion of visible to IR (e.g. roof mirrors) might be enough to save us.
Just the latter can't if CO2 remains high, because a collapsed ocean ecosystem
is its own mega-disaster.

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matthewdgreen
This is the most important story on HN today, and predictably it’s ranked 56
as I write this.

