• Home
  • About
  • Contact us
Tech News, Magazine & Review WordPress Theme 2017
  • Computing
  • Entertainment
  • Gaming
  • Mobile
  • Science
  • Security
  • Services
  • Software
  • Space
No Result
View All Result
  • Computing
  • Entertainment
  • Gaming
  • Mobile
  • Science
  • Security
  • Services
  • Software
  • Space
Technovanguard — Be at the forefront of technology news
No Result
View All Result

Termite Fumigation in California Is Fueling the Rise of a Rare Greenhouse Gas

Justin Rowell by Justin Rowell
29.09.2022
Home Space

A yellow-, red-, and blue-striped fumigation tent covers a building. AGU Fall Meeting 2021

New research has suggested that the nationwide rise of the potent greenhouse gas sulfuryl fluoride comes almost entirely from termite fumigations in the greater Los Angeles area.

Sulfuryl fluoride is a common treatment for drywood termites, bedbugs, cockroaches, and other pests. The Dow Chemical Company developed the gas, also known by its brand name Vikane, in 1959.

Concentrations of sulfuryl fluoride have grown exponentially worldwide: In 1978, it was 0.3 part per trillion. Today it’s more than 2.5 parts per trillion.

The latest research has found that one hot spot in the United States—the greater Los Angeles area—has the highest emissions of sulfuryl fluoride. In the region, sulfuryl fluoride concentrations have topped 400 parts per trillion at times between 2015 and 2017, said graduate student Dylan Gaeta of Johns Hopkins University. The second-highest emissions came from California’s Bay Area. The rest of the country releases barely any emissions.

According to the state’s Department of Pesticide Regulation, the source of emissions in California is clear: Structural fumigations account for 99% of sulfuryl fluoride use.

A map of fluxesCompared with other states, California has unusually high rates of sulfuryl fluoride emissions. Credit: Dylan Gaeta

The study analyzed the concentration of sulfuryl fluoride in the air between 2015 and 2017 taken by NOAA’s Global Monitoring Laboratory. The agency’s scientists regularly gather flasks of air across the country using aircraft, towers, and surface collectors. NOAA scientists in Boulder, Colo., then test the flasks for minute traces of gas.

“The fact that we are seeing almost all of it from California? That was the shocking part.”

Gaeta and his collaborators used these measurements to estimate the rate of emissions nationwide. They fed a statistical model sulfuryl fluoride concentration measurements at different sites, along with other relevant data, and asked the model to infer where the emissions came from.

“We expected to see little splotches of emissions throughout at least some other parts of the country,” Gaeta said. “The fact that we are seeing almost all of it from California? That was the shocking part.”

NOAA’s monitoring network does not extend to Florida, however, and the state does not track sulfuryl fluoride use. “It is possible that Florida is also emitting, and then it’s just not being detected by the NOAA network,” said Gaeta. He presented the research, which has not yet been peer reviewed, at AGU’s Fall Meeting 2021.

A Surprise Greenhouse Gas

For years, the insecticide was thought to be relatively harmless when it came to global warming.

To use the substance, fumigators first cover a building with an airtight tent. They fill the building with gas and let it do its work. Afterward, workers open windows to air out the building, releasing the gas to the atmosphere, where it was believed to break down relatively quickly.

The gas has a global warming potential of more than 4,000 times that of carbon dioxide over 100 years.

The method rose in popularity after the Montreal Protocol phased out another common fumigant, methyl bromide, that was found to erode the ozone layer.

But research in 2008 and 2009 revealed that sulfuryl fluoride has a relatively high global warming potential and sticks around longer than initially thought. The gas has a global warming potential of more than 4,000 times that of carbon dioxide over 100 years and remains in the atmosphere for about 36 years.

“When something stays in the atmosphere this long, you cannot lessen the climate effects overnight by just turning off the emissions,” said atmospheric chemist Mads Sulbaek Andersen of California State University Northridge, who has studied the gas’s characteristics but was not involved in the new research.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) recently added the insecticide to its list of short-lived climate pollutants. It’s the only state to track its use, with records stretching back to the 1990s. Yet the state’s progressive emissions goals don’t include sulfuryl fluoride because the rules were written before scientists knew it was a greenhouse gas.

“CARB staff continue to monitor the scientific literature to better understand the greenhouse gas emissions and effects of sulfuryl fluoride and other pesticides,” said CARB public information officer Dave Clegern.

Fumigation Alternatives

If fumigating stopped, “almost all the emissions coming from the U.S. would go away.”

You can rid your house of pests without fumigation, but other methods may not work as well, said urban pest researcher Andrew Sutherland at University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR). Other techniques to target drywood termites, bedbugs, and wood-boring beetles include heat treatments and local insecticide application. Both require advanced monitoring, detection, and delimitation methods, said Sutherland.

But when infestations are widespread, nothing can equal sulfuryl fluoride’s “efficacy and cost-effectiveness,” Sutherland said.

Los Angeles County integrated pest management adviser Siavash Taravati of UC ANR said that sulfuryl fluoride comes in handy when an infestation is inaccessible to technicians. “If banned, pest control operators will have to switch to local treatment methods.”

The change could reverberate around the world: According to recent work from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, structural fumigation in North America was the leading global source of sulfuryl fluoride emissions in 2019.

If California fumigations stopped, said Gaeta, “almost all the emissions coming from the U.S. would go away.”

—Jenessa Duncombe (@jrdscience), Staff Writer

Citation: Duncombe, J. (2022), Termite fumigation in California is fueling the rise of a rare greenhouse gas, Eos, 103, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022EO220008. Published on 3 January 2022.

Text © 2022. AGU. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Except where otherwise noted, images are subject to copyright. Any reuse without express permission from the copyright owner is prohibited.


Next Post
Altair Signs Comprehensive Multi-Year Agreement with HPE

Altair Signs Comprehensive Multi-Year Agreement with HPE

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recommended.

Got an Xbox Series X/S for Christmas? Do these 5 things right now

Got an Xbox Series X/S for Christmas? Do these 5 things right now

29.09.2022
Xbox Game Pass gets Spelunky 2, Outer Wilds, and Mass Effect in January

Xbox Game Pass gets Spelunky 2, Outer Wilds, and Mass Effect in January

29.09.2022

Trending.

Netflix’s vampire movie Day Shift adds real bite to a classic action throwback

Netflix’s vampire movie Day Shift adds real bite to a classic action throwback

30.03.2023
Staying Ahead of the Game: The Top 10 Most Popular Websites for IT and Modern Technology

Staying Ahead of the Game: The Top 10 Most Popular Websites for IT and Modern Technology

30.01.2023
Travel Business and Content Marketing: A Match Made in Heaven

Travel Business and Content Marketing: A Match Made in Heaven

07.02.2023
Join MDM for a holiday happy hour in Austin on December 16th

Join MDM for a holiday happy hour in Austin on December 16th

29.09.2022
The creator of Celebrity Deathmatch looks back at the versus show’s weirdest highlights

The creator of Celebrity Deathmatch looks back at the versus show’s weirdest highlights

29.09.2022
Technovanguard — Be at the forefront of technology news

Technovanguard - The latest news from the world of IT and modern technologies.

Categories

  • Computing
  • Entertainment
  • Gaming
  • Internet
  • Mobile
  • Science
  • Security
  • Services
  • Software
  • Space
  • Без рубрики

Tags

best bitcoin casino best bitcoin gambling site best crypto casino bitcoin gambling site btc casino FEATUREDNEWS linkedin connection message linkedin connection request template linkedin connect message examples linkedin networking message template linkedin sales message top bitcoin casinos

Recent News

Ukrainian Soldier on Prosthesis to Participate in 2023 TCS London Marathon

Ukrainian Soldier on Prosthesis to Participate in 2023 TCS London Marathon

28.03.2023
Talents on AI: Kyiv to Host Three-Day Hackathon Connecting Developers and Sponsors in May 2023

Talents on AI: Kyiv to Host Three-Day Hackathon Connecting Developers and Sponsors in May 2023

07.03.2023
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact us

© 2021 technovanguard.com. Submit news release

No Result
View All Result
  • Computing
  • Entertainment
  • Gaming
  • Mobile
  • Science
  • Security
  • Services
  • Software
  • Space

© 2021 technovanguard.com. Submit news release