Something's funky with air above Gulf spill, Eurasia

From UCI & Cal State LA

Should anything less be expected of investigators from Southern California, an air pollution capital of the planet, that they're at the fore in finding matters amiss in the air from the Gulf to Eurasia?

• In Irvine, researchers say they're continuing to analyze samples extracted from the atmosphere above the BP oil spill in the Gulf and the preliminary findings aren't good: They say they have detected record levels of harmful chemicals -- and these are not particulates or materials related to oil burn-offs conducted to try to clean up the spreading mess. Instead, the researchers, who are struggling to find funding for their work and are cadging samples with the aid of fishermen and some helpful bureaucrats, say they are concerned about atmospheric gases, alkyl nitrates, methane, and hexane and butane compounds they have identified that could be from oil rising to the surface, the dispersant used to break it up or other unknown sources. While the official line is the gases still have not exceeded regulators' thresholds, there is skepticism and worry about this air problem adding the myriad spill woes.  

Record levels of harmful chemicals detected in atmosphere over Gulf spill

• In East L.A., meantime, a researcher has raised noteworthy questions on scientific theories about a key greenhouse gas after observing its actions above Eurasia via historic and recent satellite data. Conventional wisdom has it that water vapor in the atmosphere acts as a greenhouse gas and can play a significant role in climate change, influencing sunlight reflection, cloud cover, temperature and precipitation, among other factors. But water vapor, at least according to accumulated data, does not work exactly as theories say it should, decreasing in hot, dry, subtropical areas of Eurasia, even as temperatures increase. This suggests, the expert says, that hot dry regions will experience more severe drought and higher temperatures in global warming.

A challenge to conventional theories on actions of water vapor, a key greenhouse gas