Posted by:
Brother Of Jerry
(
)
Date: March 08, 2020 09:43PM
OK, I found an article from Science, 5 Nov 1982. It is a reputable peer reviewed journal.
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/218/4572/563Abstract
Termites may emit large quantities of methane, carbon dioxide, and molecular hydrogen into the atmosphere. Global annual emissions calculated from laboratory measurements could reach 1.5 x 10^14 grams of methane and 5 x 10^16 grams of carbon dioxide. As much as 2 x 10^14 grams of molecular hydrogen may also be produced. Field measurements of methane emissions from two termite nests in Guatemala corroborated the laboratory results. The largest emissions should occur in tropical areas disturbed by human activities.
OK, now for the conversion to gigatonnes.
There are 1000 grams in a kg, and 1000 kg in a metric tonne, So, to convert grams to tonnes, subtract 6 from the exponent. (a million is 10^6).
Sooooo, termites produce ...
1.5 x 10^8 tonnes of methane (a potent greenhouse gas, BTW, though, unlike CO2, it will slowly break down in the atmosphere)
5 x 10^10 tonnes of CO2
2 x 10^8 tonnes of molecular hydrogen (I do not believe molecular hydrogen is a greenhouse gas, but I am guessing)
To convert from tonnes to gigatonnes, you subtract 9 from the exponent.
Soooo, part II: termites produce
1.5 x 10^-1 gigatonnes of methane ( 0.15 gigatonne)
5 x 10^1 gigatonnes of CO2 ( 50 gigatonnes)
2 x 10^-1 gigatonnes of H ( 0.2 gigatonne)
Now, human production of CO2 was estimated at 40 gigatonnes in 2015.
https://www.climate.gov/news-features/climate-qa/which-emits-more-carbon-dioxide-volcanoes-or-human-activitiesWell I'll be damned, it looks like macaRomney was technically correct. Assuming the data from 1982/2015 are correct, termites do produce more CO2 than humans, though not a lot more.
However, I found the following on stackexchange, a website full of software engineers, who veer off topic from time to time.
From
https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/45290/do-termites-produce-10-times-more-co2-than-humansYou can read the full question at the link. Here's the response:
1. Termites are not burning fossil fuels. The carbon they produce comes from decomposing wood. This carbon came from the atmosphere, and as the wood rots this carbon will wind up back in the atmosphere whether termites eat it or not. Over the lifespan of a tree this is a carbon neutral process, and is accordingly treated as a net zero in global CO2 accounting. So from a global climate point of view the statement is flat wrong.
2. Termites produce a mixture of methane and CO2. Methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas than CO2, but is much less persistent in the atmosphere. For global climate purposes the various greenhouse gasses are counted as the equivalent mass of CO2, but for termite emissions the amounts vary greatly between wet and dry seasons. We don't have good estimates for the global amount, and it would also need to be set against the balance of CO2 and methane that would be produced by other decomposition processes. Complicating this even further is the fact that bacteria in the termite mounds seem to be oxidising anything from 20% to 80% the methane into CO2. So if you are comparing the tailpipe emissions of termites with human industry without regard to the source of the carbon then the answer is "we don't know".
3. Termites are spreading into new areas due to anthropogenic climate change, and places where they are endemic can also see increases in populations due to tree cutting. So some termite gas production is an indirect result of human activity.
Lastly, we know from examining air bubbles in glacial ice cores, that over the last 800,000 years, the CO2 level has fluctuated between 170 ppm during glacial periods, and 270 ppm during the warmer interglacial periods. (NB macaRomney rejects that glacier are 800,000 years old because he doesn't believe scientists can distinguish between an annual ice layer, and the melting and refreezing caused by a warm day in May).
However old they are, the CO2 levels varied between 170 and 270 over a very long period of time. They have been climbing steeply for about 200 years now, and currently sit at 414 ppm.
https://www.noaa.gov/news/global-carbon-dioxide-growth-in-2018-reached-4th-highest-on-record.
Edit to add: the 2019 numbers should be out later this month. They are expected to be up another 3 ppm, give or take a fraction of a ppm.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/08/2020 09:50PM by Brother Of Jerry.