New study
explores methane gas suppression
Alexis Paolantonio
'05
Visiting biogeochemist Dr. Nancy Dise was recently involved in a field
study examining the effects of acid rain on natural wetlands. It seems
almost like an oxymoron to say acid rain may help wetlands, but that’s
exactly what Dise’s research proves.While doing post
doctorate work in the North Woods at the University of Minnesota working
with methane research, Dise heard seminars and research which showed that
sulfate suppresses methane. She started thinking. If large doses of sulfate
suppressed methane, would the low doses of sulfate in acid rain suppress the
methane that is emitted by natural wetlands? A few lab studies had been done
to test this hypothesis; they showed that low doses of sulfate did suppress
methane.
Dice decided to test this theory in the field and
worked for a month in Minnesota in 1994. She went to Europe to do the
experiment on a larger scale over a larger period of time in 1997-1998. In
both experiments, Dice and her co-workers, including Dr. Vincent Gauci,
found that there was a very dramatic suppression of methane emission from
sulfate.
Methane is one of the most powerful greenhouse gases,
after carbon dioxide. While it comes mainly from fossil fuels, methane is
also produced by wetlands, both natural and man-made. It is responsible for
over 20 percent of enhanced greenhouse warming and it is increasing for
reasons no one understands. “Everyone is really interested in what the
sources [of methane] are and what controls we can put on it,” said Dice.
The next step in Dice’s research is to see if amounts
of methane in man-made wetlands, such as rice paddies, can be controlled by
acid rain. This is especially important now that Asia is becoming more
industrialized. Dice and other researchers are interested to see if the
increased acid rain will reduce some of the methane that is predicted to
come from the rice paddies. |
