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Science 27 June 1986:
Vol. 232. no. 4758, pp. 1623 - 1624
DOI: 10.1126/science.232.4758.1623
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Articles

Atmospheric Trace Gases: Trends and Distributions Over the Last Decade

R. A. RASMUSSEN 1 and M. A. K. KHALIL 1

1 Institute of Atmospheric Sciences, Department of Chemical, Biological, and Environmental Sciences, Oregon Graduate Center, Beaverton, OR 97006.

Concentrations of the halocrbons CCl3F (F-11), CCl2F2 (F-12), CCl4, and CH3CCl3, methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) over the decade between 1975 and 1985 are reported, based on measurements taken every January at the South Pole and in the Pacific Northwest. The concentrations of F-11, F-12, and CH3CCl3 in both hemispheres are now more than twice their concentrations 10 years ago. However, the annual rates of increase of F-11, F-12, and CH3CC13 are now considerably slower than earlier in the decade, reflecting in part the effects of a ban on their nonessential uses. Continued increases in these trace gas concentrations may warm the earth and deplete the stratospheric ozone layer, which may cause widespread climatic changes and affect global habitability.

Submitted on October 7, 1985
Accepted on March 26, 1986


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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The Greenhouse Theory of Climate Change: A Test by an Inadvertent Global Experiment.
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Progress in Physical Geography 11, 370-383
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