Scientists Discover Long-Lived Greenhouse Gas with the Highest Global Warming Impact

Scientists have detected a new chemical in the atmosphere that might be the long-lived greenhouse gas.

A team of scientists from  the University of Toronto has discovered the presence of a new chemical 'perflurotributylamine'(PFTBA) in the atmosphere that they believe is the long-lived greenhouse gas (LLGHG). The newly discovered greenhouse gas is one of the most radiatively efficient chemical found till date and has the  potential to impact the climate the maximum.

Radiative efficiency defines the impact of a single molecule on the climate. This value is then multiplied by the atmospheric concentration in order to analyze the total impact on climate.

The greenhouse gas PFTBA is  used in several electrical equipments . Presently it is used  in thermally and chemically stable liquids for use  in electronic testings . It does not occur naturally but is actually man-made.

PFTBA is very difficult to destroy in the lower atmosphere, till date no known process has been discovered, hence, its longevity. It gets destroyed in the upper atmosphere.

"Global warming potential is a metric used to compare the cumulative effects of different greenhouse gases on climate over a specified time period," said Cora Young who was part of the U of T study  team along with Angela Hong and their supervisor, Scott Mabury.

In the global warming metric, time is also a factor as various compounds exist in the atmosphere for different duration of time and that determines the impact on climate.

To determine the impact of any gas on climate, carbon dioxide is used as a comparison model as it is the most potent human-induced  greenhouse gas .

"PFTBA is extremely long-lived in the atmosphere and it has a very high radiative efficiency; the result of this is a very high global warming potential. Calculated over a 100-year timeframe, a single molecule of PFTBA has the equivalent climate impact as 7100 molecules of CO2," concluded Hong.