Volcano Takes Mauna Loa Carbon Monitoring Station Offline

of Eruption of Mauna Loa in Hawaii Volcano temporarily cut power to world’s highest station to measure carbon dioxide trapping heat It’s in the air, but officials on Wednesday said it wouldn’t be a problem.

There are hundreds of other carbon dioxide monitoring sites around the world. The federal government is looking for a temporary alternative site on the Big Island of Hawaii and is considering flying a generator to the Mauna Loa Observatory to restore power and enable measurements to be taken again, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials said. Stated. Global monitoring lab Colorado, which operates the station.

Hawaii Station dates back to 1958 and is the main site of the famous. key ring curve It shows rising carbon dioxide levels from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas, and is following an increase in temperature.Carbon dioxide levels on Mauna Loa are 33% increase Since 1958.

The 11,300-foot (3,444-meter) high station has a 131-foot (40-meter) tower that collects air and measures levels of carbon dioxide, radiation, and other substances. The lava flow is not near the station, but power lines were cut off further down the mountain, officials said.

“This is like our flagship station,” says Colm Sweeney, Associate Director of Surveillance Labs. “Mauna Loa’s scientific value lies in what it represents. It’s also one of the cleanest signals we have.”

It’s on top of a mountain, away from densely populated vegetation, and so high that measuring tropospheric levels without pollution from local activity is like “sticking a finger into the atmosphere,” says the monitoring lab. said Ariel Stein, director of

With more than 300 stations around the world, including more than 70 stations operated by NOAA, global measurements of greenhouse gases will continue, Sweeney said.

The station was knocked out for 36 days during the 1984 Mauna Loa eruption, but global surveillance continues and the long-term record is still complete, Sweeney said.

Sweeney and Stein said that unlike the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, this Mauna Loa eruption is unlikely to significantly change global temperatures. Large eruptions like Pinatubo could release enough sulfate aerosols into the upper atmosphere to reflect sunlight and temporarily cool the Earth’s temperature.

The current Mauna Loa eruption hardly appears to spew enough aerosols, and its carbon footprint is no match for burning fossil fuels, they said.

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https://www.news4jax.com/tech/2022/11/30/volcano-knocks-mauna-loa-carbon-monitoring-station-offline/ Volcano Takes Mauna Loa Carbon Monitoring Station Offline

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