New Delhi, August 28: Laughing gas or Nitrous Oxide (N2O) is the most abundant ozone-depleting substance in the 21st century as the emissions of CFC, another green house gas, has come down, a new study suggests.
“Although N2O is roughly 160th of Chloro-fluoro carbon (CFC)-11 in terms of ozone depleting potential, it has become the largest ozone depleting substance as Montreal Protocol has considerably reduced emission of others,” A R Ravishankara, Director Chemical Sciences Division, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, (NOAA) USA, told PTI over phone.
The research, which will be published in the latest issue of the Science magazine, studied N2O emissions through human activities especially by usage of fertilisers in agriculture.
“Our findings analyse the continuous emissions of N2O compared to that of Chloro fluoro carbon (CFC)-11 from anthropogenic source, especially agriculture, he said.
–PTI