Concentrations of Methane and Nitrous Oxide During Glacial and Inter-Glacial Periods: Analyses of the Vostok Core

已经确定的是，在过去的100-200年里，甲烷的浓度增加了一倍多，一氧化二氮的浓度增加了约20%。这些变化可能是由于人类活动排放的增加造成的，也可能是由于大气去除甲烷能力的减少造成的。这两种气体浓度的增加会加剧二氧化碳浓度增加所预期的全球变暖。在冰河期和其他较冷时期的变化可能反映了世界生态系统中生物源的反应。随着未来地球变暖，这些生态系统可能会向大气中排放越来越多的CH4和N2O，从而对这些气体的循环产生正反馈，从而对世界气候产生正反馈。该方案有3个组成部分：1。从Vostok站回收冰芯样本；2. 对冰样本进行实验室分析，以测量岩心跨越15万年的CH4和N2O，并辅以对其他可用岩心的分析。预期结果是关于地球升温和降温过程中N2O变化的初步资料和关于CH4对气候变化响应的较为完整的资料；3. 描述数据中的模式，并评估在冰期发生的浓度变化的原因。这些分析将提供关于这些气体的源和汇如何对气候变化作出反应的信息，并可能为了解未来可能发生的情况提供基础。

It has been established that the concentration of methane has more than doubled over the past 100-200 years and that nitrous oxide levels have increased by some 20%. These changes are probably caused by increasing emissions from human activities and possibly from reduction in the capacity of the atmosphere to remove methane. Increased concentrations of both gases can add to the global warming expected from the increasing concentrations of CO2. Changes, during ice ages and other colder periods, probably reflect the response of the biogenic sources in the world's ecosystems. As the earth warms up in the future, these ecosystems may emit more and more CH4 and N2O into the atmosphere, causing a positive feedback on the cycles of these gases and hence on the world's climate. This program has 3 components: 1. recovery of ice core samples from Vostok Station; 2. laboratory analyses of ice samples to measure CH4 and N2O over the 150,000 years spanned by the core and supplemented by analyses of other available cores. The expected results are primary data on the changes of N2O during heating and cooling of the earth and more complete data on the response of CH4 to climatic changes; 3. delineate the patterns in the data and assess the causes of the changes of concentrations that occur during ice ages. These analyses will provide information on how the sources and sinks of these gases respond to climatic changes and may provide a basis for understanding what may occur in the future.