Japan to strengthen monitoring of 'super' greenhouse gas emissions+

TOKYO, Dec. 19 Kyodo -
The Japan Meteorological Agency is planning to start monitoring levels of
''super'' greenhouse gases, which have an enormous effect on global warming
compared with carbon dioxide, at two observatories as part of efforts to combat
global warming under the Kyoto Protocol.
Gases such as sulfur hexafluoride and dinitrogen monoxide, which respectively
have 20,000 and 300 times more global warming effects than CO2, will be
monitored at the meteorological observatory in Minamitori Island, Japan's
easternmost island, and the atmospheric environment observatory in Ofunato,
Iwate Prefecture, according to agency officials.
The average amount of sulfur hexafluoride, frequently used as an insulator in
electronic devices, found in the atmosphere is relatively small at 6 to 7 parts
per million compared with 380 ppm of CO2, but the level has doubled from the
1990s, mostly due to man-made emissions.
While the National Institute for Environmental Studies has been taking samples
and analyzing them four times a year on Hateruma Island in Okinawa Prefecture,
the agency plans to start monitoring levels once a week at the observatories in
Minamitori Island and Iwate from fiscal 2011 starting April.
The agency has already been measuring dinitrogen monoxide, which is emitted
through farming and chemical engineering activities, at Ofunato observatory,
but it plans to monitor the gas on Minamitori Island as well.
The island, located 1,860 kilometers south of Tokyo, is hardly affected by
urbanization and is suitable for monitoring the atmospheric environment over a
long period, according to the agency.
The agency requested 330 million yen in its fiscal 2011 budget request for
strengthening countermeasures against global warming, with officials saying it
is crucial to monitor the heat-trapping gases to come up with effective
measures to prevent global warming.
==Kyodo
2010-12-19 21:15:38