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Red Sea huge source of air pollution, greenhouse gases: study:
Hydrocarbon gases bubbling from the bottom of the Red Sea are polluting the atmosphere at a rate equivalent to the emissions of some large fossil fuel exporting countries, researchers said Tuesday.
The gases seeping from the waters—which are ringed by the resorts and ports of several countries, including Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia—then mix with emissions from industrial shipping and turned into noxious pollutants that are very harmful to human health.
The Middle East holds more than half of the world's oil and gas reserves[. The intense] fossil fuel exploitation that takes place there [means] the region releases enormous amounts of gaseous pollutants into the atmosphere.
But during a 2017 expedition around the Gulf, researchers at the Max Plank Institute for Chemistry noticed that levels of ethane and propane in the air above the Northern Red Sea were up to 40 times higher than predicted, even accounting for regional manmade emissions.
The team analysed possible sources for the gas emissions, including traffic, agriculture, burning of biomass, and power generation from hydrocarbons.
They came to an unexpected conclusion: the two gases had to be seeping out of the sea bed after escaping natural subterranean oil and gas reservoirs.
They were then carried by currents to the surface, where they mix with another greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide, which is emitted in high amounts by industrial shipping.
The resulting gas compounds are extremely harmful to human health, according to the team's study, published in Nature Communications.
Journal Reference:
Bourtsoukidis, E., Pozzer, A., Sattler, T. et al. The Red Sea Deep Water is a potent source of atmospheric ethane and propane. Nat Commun 11, 447 (2020). doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14375-0, www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-14375-0
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 30 2020, @12:13AM (4 children)
It would be much better. Processing it into fuel would mean that it was then burnt to harmless CO2, and because it would displace an equivalent amount of regularly mined fuel there would even be no net increase in CO2, while still removing the naturally released alkanes.
Methane supposedly lasts about 12 years in the atmosphere, I think ethane and propane would be similar, if not longer. Methane (MW 16) is lighter than air (MW 29) and would tend to float up higher where UV and ozone would break it down, whereas ethane (MW 30) and propane (MW 44) are heavier than air.
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Thursday January 30 2020, @01:14AM (3 children)
Nah it's only just barely feasible assuming:
1. The oil will be eventually pumped out anyhow.
2. You have filtering and some carbon-capture going on in the refineries and power plants.
3. The oil producers will keep supply in check and lower production elsewhere.
1 is pretty much guaranteed. 2 is already done in most places and should be better than just letting it leak the way it does. 3 is mostly true to the countries in the region anyhow.
Except that it's a greenhouse gas... But that's where the carbon-capture and filters come in.
compiling...
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Thursday January 30 2020, @02:01AM (2 children)
Burning it to CO2, even if just flaring it off, would be far preferable to letting it just drift away as unburnt alkanes. CO2 is the current big bogyman, but hydrocarbon pollution is much worse.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 30 2020, @10:11AM
all hydrocarbons will degrade in atmosphere to CO2 anyway. It just takes time.
CO2 is not boogeyman . it's just a sad indicator about the future of our planet.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday January 30 2020, @11:36AM
Pfft, only if you can't breathe methane like those of us from Titan can. You insensitive clod.
Washington DC delenda est.