From the LEIBNIZ INSTITUTE FOR TROPOSPHERIC RESEARCH (TROPOS) and the department of settled science comes this new discovery related to cloud formation.
Surface of the oceans affects climate more than thought
First detected abiotic source of isoprene
Lyon/ Leipzig. The oceans seem to produce significantly more isoprene, and consequently affect the climate more than previously thought. This emerges from a study by the Institute of Catalysis and Environment in Lyon (IRCELYON, CNRS / University Lyon 1) and the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS), which had studied samples of the surface film in the laboratory. The results underline the global significance of the chemical processes at the border between ocean and atmosphere, write the researchers in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. Isoprene is a gas that is formed by both the vegetation and the oceans. It is very important for the climate because this gas can form particles that can become clouds and then later affect temperature and precipitation. Previously it was assumed that isoprene is primarily caused by biological processes from plankton in the sea water. The atmospheric chemists from France and Germany, however, could now show that isoprene could also be formed without biological sources in surface film of the oceans by sunlight and so explain the large discrepancy between field measurements and models. The new identified photochemical reaction is therefore important to improve the climate models.
The oceans not only take up heat and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, they are also sources of various gaseous compounds, thereby affecting the global climate. A key role is played by the so-called surface microlayer (SML), especially at low wind speed. In these few micrometers thin layer different organic substances such as dissolved organic matter, fat and amino acids, proteins, lipids are accumulating as well as trace metals, dust and microorganisms.
For the now published study, the research team took samples from the Norther Atlantic Ocean. The surface film was collected in the Raunefjord near Bergen in Norway. For this purpose, a glass plate is immersed in water and then again carefully pulled from the water. The 200 micron thin film sticks to the glass and is then scraped off with a wiper. The sample thus obtained is analyzed in the laboratory later. At the Institute of Catalysis and Environment in Lyon (IRCELYON), which belongs to the French research organization CNRS and the University of Lyon 1, the team investigated its photochemical properties during which collected samples were irradiated with light and the gases were analyzed: it became clear that isoprene was produced in magtnetudes that were previously attributed solely to plankton. “We were able for the first time trace back the production of this important aerosol precursor to abiotic sources, so far global calculations consider only biological sources,” explains Dr. Christian George from IRCELYON.
Thus, it is now possible to estimate more closely the total amounts of isoprene, which are emitted. So far, however, local measurements indicated levels of about 0.3 megatonnes per year, global simulations of around 1.9 megatons per year. But the team of Lyon and Leipzig estimates that the newly discovered photochemical pathway alone contribute 0.2 to 3.5 megatons per year additionally and could explain the recent disagreements. “The existence of the organic films at the ocean surface due to biological activities therefore influences the exchange processes between air and sea in a unexpected strong way. The photochemical processes at this interface could be a very significant source of isoprene”, summarizes Prof. Hartmut Herrmann from TROPOS.
The processes at the boundary between water and air are currently of great interest in science: In August, the team from the CNRS and TROPOS presented evidence in Scientific Reports, the open-access journal of Nature, that dissolved organic material in the surface film is strengthening the chemical conversion of saturated fatty acids into unsaturated gas phase products under the influence of sunlight. For the first time it was realized that these products have to be of biological origin not only, but also abiotic processes at the interface between two media have the potential to produce such molecules. In early September another team from Canada, the US, Great Britain and Germany showed in the journal Nature that organic material from the surface film of the oceans can be an important source for the formation of ice in clouds over remote regions of the North Atlantic, North Pacific and Southern Ocean. The recent publication of the teams from CNRS and TROPOS in Environmental Science & Technology provides indications how the climate models in the important details of the influence of isoprene could be improved. Because of the great importance this paper will be open access as “Editor’s Choice”.
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Publications:
Raluca Ciuraru, Ludovic Fine, Manuela van Pinxteren, Barbara D’Anna, Hartmut Herrmann, and Christian George (2015): Unravelling new processes at interfaces: photochemical isoprene production at the sea surface. Environmental Science & Technology. Just Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.5b02388 http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b02388 The study was funded by the European Research Council ERC (ERC Grant Agreement 290852 – Airsea).
Raluca Ciuraru, Ludovic Fine, Manuela van Pinxteren, Barbara D’Anna, Hartmut Herrmann & Christian George (2015): Photosensitized production of functionalized and unsaturated organic compounds at the air-sea interface. Scientific Reports, 5:12741, DOI: 10.1038/srep12741 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep12741 The study was funded by the European Research Council ERC (ERC Grant Agreement 290852 – Airsea).
Climate and weather looking like a self regulating system to me….
Thanks Ellen. That is what I had but I was not sure it was current.
Peace,
Bob
Svensmark theory, as I recall it, claims that hydrogen sulphide is released from the oceans. This gas is then oxidised to sulphur dioxide when the sun comes up, with UV light being the catalyst. The sulphur dioxide then forms droplets of sulphuric acid, which assist in cloud formation, with the action of muons.
Reblogged this on | truthaholics and commented:
“For the first time it was realized that these products have to be of biological origin not only, but also abiotic processes at the interface between two media have the potential to produce such molecules.”
It seems to me that it all gets back to cloud variability and, ultimately, to Henrik Svensmark’s theory on cosmic rays-solar activity-cloud formation, which in turn determine the energy that reaches the surface of the oceans.
I think this is the “Institute’s” way of sidling into Willis’s theory. Next they will discover that cloud development over warm SST have a “governor” effect on climate. Isoprene indeed.
I feel that it’s a blatant ripoff of Willis’s idea. But, what do the climate minions of Algore care? Like Dr “Piltdown” Mann, they are only in it for the money.
Can it explain also the seasonal destruction of ozone?
It will be so great for humanity to be able to reuse the CFC, ban only because he was in public domain.
Considering that the efficiency of Isoprene to destroy ozone match the cycle of the ozone hole
I read somewhere today someone saying that if this is true then it means the warming effect of CO2 is MUCH GREATER than previously thought.
‘But the team of Lyon and Leipzig estimates that the newly discovered photochemical pathway alone contribute 0.2 to 3.5 megatons per year additionally and could explain the recent disagreements.’
No.
A quick check on the worldwide waste of time says that terrestrial plants emit HUNDREDS of megatons of isoprene every year. This alleged ocean process is a rounding error.
Also, 0.2 to 3.5 megatons per year is crap. 3.5 is 1750% of 0.2. Their estimate varies by more than an order of magnitude.
So basically it wasn’t lightning or a comet hitting the earth that started life but the complex interaction of ionized materials at the water/air interface of the ocean.
Ok!
Wait… there’s errors?
Oh damn, no Nobel for me.
Isoprene exhibits stereochemistry. Any competent declaration of abiotic origin of isoprene will include analysis for stereochemistry.
http://www.nature.com/articles/srep12741
Does not mention stereochemistry. Hence, I say the report is invalid on its face.
The Sea take up heat from WHAT ! They reflect IR and are more cooled by contact with moving AIR due to evaporation than warmed………..Seas are warmed by Solar radiation – Solar Radiation and – er – Solar Radiation.
Neither link works!