A joint study, by a number of prominent research institutions, has concluded that sulfuryl fluoride, a fumigant gas commonly used for insect control, may contribute to future global warming at an estimated 4,800 times the potency of carbon dioxide.
Sulfuryl fluoride remains in the atmosphere about 36 years, six to 10 times longer than previously thought, according to a research team led by Jens Mühle, an atmospheric chemist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego.
The study published in this month’s Journal of Geophysical Research, Sulfuryl Fluoride In The Global Atmosphere, is a joint effort by scientists at several leading institutions including the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the University of Bristol.
Sulfuryl fluoride, is a fumigant commonly used as a termite treatment and in post-harvest insect control on fruits, nuts and grains. Widespread use of sulfuryl fluoride began in the 1990s following the Montreal Protocol, an international treaty ratified in 1987 to protect the ozone layer by reducing the production of ozone-depleting chemicals. The protocol ordered the gradual discontinuation of methyl bromide, which has strong ozone-depleting characteristics, and sulfuryl fluoride became a preferred replacement for structural fumigation. Sulfuryl fluoride is regulated as a toxic substance but not currently as a greenhouse gas.
"Unfortunately, it turns out that sulfuryl fluoride is a greenhouse gas with a longer lifetime than previously assumed," says Muhle. "This has to be taken into account before large amounts are emitted into the atmosphere."
Scripps Institution of Oceanography: http://scripps.ucsd.edu
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