Hydrogen emissions are growing, and there’s no telling if there will be an end. New research now reveals that human activity is boosting the levels of molecular hydrogen (H2) in the Earth’s atmosphere, according to ScienceAlert.com.
Scientists analyzed the air from Antarctica’s ice, and what they found is shocking: the hydrogen from the atmosphere increased 70 percent in the 20th century.
Atmospheric hydrogen increased from 330 to 550 parts per billion
The study shows that from 1852 to 2003, the air samples close to the South Pole are revealing that the atmospheric hydrogen has been from an increase to 550 parts per billion from 330 parts per billion.
John Patterson from the University of California Irvine declared as quoted by ScienceAlert.com:
Aging air is trapped in the perennial snowpack above an ice sheet, and sampling it gives us a highly accurate account of atmospheric composition over time,
Our paleoatmospheric reconstruction of H2 levels has greatly enhanced our understanding of anthropogenic emissions since the beginning of the industrial revolution.
Automobile exhaust is likely causing most part of hydrogen emissions.
Unfortunately, not everybody knows that hydrogen can be considered an indirect greenhouse gas that has the potential of increasing global warming. Emissions of hydrogen can lead to increased burdens of ozone and methane.
As NASA explains, global warming is defined as the long-term heating of our planet’s climate system, and it has been detected since the pre-industrial period, meaning between 1850 and 1900. Human activities are to blame, including fossil fuel burning as the main factor. This increases heat-trapping greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere of the Earth.
The new study was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
