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Nitrous oxide emissions could double by 2050 -UNEP


By Nina Chestney5 hours ago

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WARSAW (Reuters) - Nitrous oxide (N20) emissions could almost double by 2050 if more aggressive action is not taken, undermining global efforts to curb climate change, the United Nations' Environment Programme (UNEP) said on Thursday.
Commonly known as the "laughing gas", nitrous oxide exists naturally in the atmosphere in trace amounts.
However, it is the third most potent greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide and methane due to human activities such as agriculture, fossil fuel combustion, waste water management and industrial processes.
N2O emissions into the atmosphere are currently around 5.3 million tones a year but this could almost double by 2050 if efforts to cut the gas are not increased, the UNEP report said.
More efficient use of fertilizers, less meat consumption, and improved waste water treatment are some ways to cut N20.
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Calved icebergs from the nearby Twin Glaciers are seen floating on the water on July 30, 2013 in Qaq …

Emissions could be cut by 1.8 million tones a year from 2020 and the benefits could be worth over $160 billion annually across sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, transportation and electricity production, UNEP said.
The Kyoto Protocol climate treaty includes N20 among the greenhouse gases the world has to reduce to fight global warming but more aggressive efforts are needed, UNEP said.
"We need all hands on deck to combat the serious and significant increases in N2O levels in the atmosphere," said U.N. Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner.
"It has a disproportionate impact on global warming because of its radiative properties and long lifetime in the atmosphere, which is 120 years on average," he added.
Delegates from around 195 nations are meeting in Warsaw for a U.N. conference, due to end on Friday, to work on greenhouse gas emission cuts under a new climate pact to succeed an extension to the Kyoto Protocol after 2020.
Atmospheric volumes of greenhouse gases blamed for climate change, including N20, hit a record in 2012, the World Meteorological Organisation said this month.
Although less potent than carbon dioxide or methane, N20 is often overlooked and could undermine efforts to prevent the ozone layer depleting, the report said.
The ozone layer shields the Earth from the sun's harmful rays and has begun to recover from depletion over the past couple of decades due to curbs on chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other halogenated chemicals.

http://news.yahoo.com/nitrous-oxide-...121619576.html

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12/12/15

196 countries approve historic climate agreement

Warmest Christmas Week in Living Memory Possible as 'Blowtorch' Weather Pattern Likely in the East, Midwest

Published:
4 hours 43 min ago
weather.com

Unusual Christmas Temperatures

Meteorologist Bonnie Schneider gives you a look at unusual temperatures continuing through this holiday season.

A second round of widespread warmth that has been so prevalent in December will dominate much of Christmas week in the central and eastern United States. Depending on how long the mild weather pattern holds on, Friday could be the one of the warmest Christmas Days of your lifetime.

This mild forecast means the prospect for a white Christmas is highly unlikely for many of the central and eastern states.

(MORE: White Christmas Forecast)

Meteorologists sometimes jokingly refer to the type of warm weather pattern we have seen recently, and the one coming next week, as a "blowtorch" in social media. The term may be a reference to weather maps showing temperatures compared to normal; these patterns tend to resemble a large red or white scorch mark surrounded by shades of orange and yellow, as if a giant blowtorch had been pointed at the Earth.

Of course, the actual cause is not a blowtorch but a weather pattern that keeps typical winter chill at bay and holds air from the Pacific or the tropics over the mainland United States.

Following a brief cooldown this weekend in many areas of the East, widespread unseasonable warmth will return for much of Christmas week in most areas east of the Rockies. This will add to the more than 2,400 daily record high temperatures that have been tied or broken across the Lower 48 in the first 17 days of the month.

Atmospheric Pattern Christmas Week

The large-scale atmospheric pattern will support a broad southwesterly wind flow over the eastern U.S., importing balmy air from the deep tropics by Christmas Day.

http://www.weather.com/forecast/nati...cast-warm-east

http://www.alipac.us/f19/no-global-w...months-326504/