ResilienceIAEA uses nuclear detection techniques to help measure climate change effects
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is responsible for monitoring compliance with the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) – but the detection technologies it uses to detect illicit nuclear activities are also helpful in tracking and quantifying the effects of climate change. Nuclear techniques offer substantial advantages over conventional techniques for measuring climate change impact. “Stable isotope analyzers let us monitor agricultural processes as they happen. They allow us to quantify carbon capture and emission patterns of farming practices, enabling us to find ways to improve them,” explained one expert.
In Costa Rica climate change is a real concern. Sea level rise, climatic variability, and climate-induced disease outbreaks are likely to affect the availability of drinking water and threaten local amphibians and marine life. The country is committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, and is now taking steps to learn how much greenhouse gases the dairy and agricultural sectors emit in order to determine what actions it can take to reduce the impact of climate change.
“A lack of training, equipment and national laboratory mean that Cost Rica relies on international emission factors to estimate the emissions of greenhouse gases from agriculture,” said Ana Gabriela Pérez, a researcher at the University of Costa Rica, who is working to develop a national reference laboratory for the measurement of greenhouse gases in the country.
“Costa Rica aims to become carbon neutral by 2021, but the international greenhouse gas emission factors aren’t very accurate for us. The country needs more reliable data about its own emissions, and it needs to be able to gather those data itself,” Pérez said.
One way of obtaining greenhouse gas data from different land uses is to team up with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to develop Costa Rica’s analytical and instrumental capabilities in regard to nuclear techniques.
Atomic answers
Nuclear techniques offer substantial advantages over conventional techniques for measuring climate change impact. “Stable isotope analyzers let us monitor agricultural processes as they happen. They allow us to quantify carbon capture and emission patterns of farming practices, enabling us to find ways to improve them,” Pérez explained.
Key to counterbalancing the increase of CO2 in agriculture is carbon sequestration. Carbon sequestration is a process of changing agricultural practices to minimize emissions and to help remove CO2 from the atmosphere by replenishing the depleting CO2 stores in degraded soil boosting soil productivity and resilience to harsh climate conditions.
The IAEA says that quantifying CO2 emissions from soil provides a unique insight into changes in carbon decomposition rates and the balance of microbial respiration — which in turn can be used to drive changes in agricultural practices influencing soil processes and the release of CO2. The accuracy and robustness of near-infrared laser beam technology allows the technique to create precise quantification of soil and carbon processes in croplands.
