Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 17, 2025

Design and Use of a Full Flow Sampling System FFS for the Quantification of Methane Emissions
Published on: June 12, 2016
Anthropogenic Chloroform Emissions from China Drive Changes in Global Emissions
Minde An1,2,3, Luke M Western2,4, Jianxin Hu1
1College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
Abstract:
Emissions of chloroform (CHCl3), a short-lived halogenated substance not currently controlled under the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, are offsetting some of the achievements of the Montreal Protocol. In this study, emissions of CHCl3 from China were derived by atmospheric measurement-based "top-down" inverse modeling and a sector-based "bottom-up" inventory method. Top-down CHCl3 emissions grew from 78 (72-83) Gg yr-1 in 2011 to a maximum of 193 (178-204) Gg yr-1 in 2017, followed by a decrease to 147 (138-154) Gg yr-1 in 2018, after which emissions remained relatively constant through 2020. The changes in emissions from China could explain all of the global changes during the study period. The CHCl3 emissions in China were dominated by anthropogenic sources, such as byproduct emissions during disinfection and leakage from chloromethane industries. Had emissions continued to grow at the rate observed up to 2017, a delay of several years in Antarctic ozone layer recovery could have occurred. However, this delay will be largely avoided if global CHCl3 emissions remain relatively constant in the future, as they have between 2018 and 2020.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Global Climate Change
The Carbon Cycle
Threats to Biodiversity
What is Climate?
Inductive Effects on Chemical Shift: Overview
Radical Substitution: Halogenation of Alkanes and Alkyl Substituents
In the initiation step of the reaction, the chlorine molecule undergoes homolytic cleavage in the presence of light or heat, forming two highly reactive chlorine radicals. Propagation occurs in two...

