• Confirmed: Atmospheric helium levels are

    From ScienceDaily@1:317/3 to All on Mon May 9 22:30:42 2022
    Confirmed: Atmospheric helium levels are rising
    A by-product released by use of fossil fuels has been increasing since
    1974

    Date:
    May 9, 2022
    Source:
    University of California - San Diego
    Summary:
    Scientists used an unprecedented technique to detect that levels
    of helium are rising in the atmosphere, resolving an issue that
    has lingered among atmospheric chemists for decades.



    FULL STORY ========================================================================== Scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego used
    an unprecedented technique to detect that levels of helium are rising in
    the atmosphere, resolving an issue that has lingered among atmospheric
    chemists for decades.


    ==========================================================================
    The atmospheric abundance of the 4-helium (4He) isotope is rising because
    4He is released during the burning and extraction of fossil fuels. The researchers report that it is increasing at a very small but, for the
    first time, clearly measurable rate. The 4He isotope itself does not add
    to the greenhouse effect that is making the planet warmer, but measures
    of it could serve as indirect markers of fossil-fuel use.

    The National Science Foundation-supported study appears today in the
    journal Nature Geoscience.

    "The main motivation was to resolve a longstanding controversy in the
    science community about atmospheric helium concentrations," said study
    lead author Benni Birner, a former graduate student and now postdoctoral researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego.

    The isotope 4He is produced by radioactive decay in the Earth's crust and accumulates in the same reservoirs as fossil fuels, in particular those
    of natural gas. During the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels,
    4He is coincidentally released, which creates another means to evaluate
    the scale of industrial activity.

    The study's breakthrough is in the technique the Scripps Oceanography
    team used to measure how much helium is in the atmosphere. Birner and
    Scripps geoscientists Jeff Severinghaus, Bill Paplawsky, and Ralph
    Keeling created a precise method to compare the 4He isotope to levels
    of the common atmospheric gas nitrogen. Because nitrogen levels in the atmosphere are constant, an increase in He/N2 is indicative of the rate
    of 4He buildup in the atmosphere.

    Study co-author and Scripps Oceanography geochemist Ralph Keeling,
    overseer of the famed carbon dioxide measurement known as the
    Keeling Curve, describes the study as a "masterpiece of fundamental geochemistry." Though helium is relatively easy for scientists to detect
    in air samples, present at levels of five parts per million of air,
    no one had done the work to measure it carefully enough to observe an atmospheric increase, he said.

    The study also provides a foundation for scientists to better understand
    the valuable 3-helium (3He) isotope, which has uses for nuclear fusion, cryogenics, and other applications. Proposals to acquire the scarce gas
    from the moon are an indication of the lengths to which manufacturers
    will go to harvest it.

    According to previous work by other researchers, the 4He isotope exists
    in the atmosphere in what appears to be an unvarying ratio with 3He. The atmospheric rise of 4He isotope measured at Scripps therefore implies
    that the 3He isotope must be rising at a comparable rate as 4He. The
    research by Birner's team raises several questions about the accuracy
    of scientists' previous assumptions about how 3He is produced and in
    what quantity.

    "We don't know for sure, but I wonder if there is more 3He coming out of
    the Earth than we previously thought, which could perhaps be harvested
    and fuel our nuclear fusion reactors in the future," Birner said.

    "The study lays in starker relief a controversy surrounding the rare
    helium isotope 3He," said Keeling. "The implications are far from clear,
    but it begs additional work."

    ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
    University_of_California_-_San_Diego. Original written by Robert
    Monroe. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


    ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
    1. Birner, B., Severinghaus, J., Paplawsky, B. et al. Increasing
    atmospheric
    helium due to fossil fuel exploitation. Nat. Geosci., 2022 DOI:
    10.1038/ s41561-022-00932-3 ==========================================================================

    Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220509112102.htm

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