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wastes is completely excluded, and in the stockbreeding, emissions of methane are
reduced by 8 % compared to 1990.
In the coal industry in England, emissions of methane in 1990 constituted
819
10
3
t with the main contribution to this
×
fl
flux made by underground operations.
This constituted 24 % of the whole
fl
flux of methane from the territory of England. In
10
3
ux F
CH
4
1998 the
fl
decreased to 264
×
t and by 2010 it should decrease to
10
3
t. A similar decreasing trend of methane emissions from the territory of
England remains in the oil and gas industry, too. According to the scenario, the
contribution of these sectors of energy production into the
218
×
ux F
CH
4
will decrease
fl
10
3
10
3
from 540
×
t in 1990 to 349
464
×
t in 2010 (Meadows 2000).
-
1.6.5 Block-Schemes of Global Sulfur Cycle
Very likely the major sulfur
fluxes of both natural and anthropogenic origin have
been described by Ivanov (1981) and Ivanov and Freney (1983). An increase of
intensity and spatial distribution of anthropogenic processes during the last decades
has also manifested itself through a change of the scale of propagation of sulfur
compounds in the biosphere. This effect is con
fl
rmed by that compared with the
pre-industrial period, sedimentation of sulfur over the continents and oceans has
increased by 162.5 and 24.6 %, respectively. Emissions of sulfur to the atmosphere
reached 93
10
6
tS year
−
1
. The anthropogenic
×
fl
flux of sulfur in the form of SO
2
is
10
12
kg of coal are globally burnt every year, with
an average content of sulfur in it 2.5 % (by weight) (Berndt et al. 2004).
An improvement of the global model of the biosphere is connected with an
extension of biogeochemical cycles considered in it. A necessity to include in the
model a unit describing sulfur
×
easily estimated, provided 3.1
fluxes in nature systems is dictated by dependence of
biotic processes on the content of sulfur in the biosphere compartments. Available
data on supplies and
fl
fluxes of sulfur compounds in the atmosphere, soils, vegetation
cover, and hydrosphere, enable one to formulate mathematical relationships to
describe the global sulfur cycle.
Sulfur compounds affect strongly the quality of the environment and change its
role in regulation of the greenhouse effect. For instance, in December 1952 a fog
consisting of a mixture of smoke and coal dust covered London. As a result, during
1 week more than 2,000 people died of air pollution. These events had happed
before, but had not been recorded as in this case. Measurements carried out in the St.
Bartholomew hospital have shown that the concentration of particles of smoke and
SO
2
exceeded several milligrams per m
3
. In general, London at that time depended
on the use of coal for space heating and energy production, and therefore after that
event attempts have been undertaken to remove sulfur from coal before its burning.
But nevertheless, in 1962 the tragedy repeated with 800 victims due to smog.
fl
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