this post was submitted on 11 May 2026
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That’s fascinating, it sounds like it happened due to the eruption occurring under ocean water, since it requires a chlorine ion from salt to break down methane. If they could translate this into something you could dump into the atmosphere over methane hot spots it could make a positive impact.
Oh, there have been plenty of proposals of solar ships atomizing salt-water around. The hard part is how to do it at scale.
Anyway, the mechanism has been known for a long time, that article is hyped on it also working at high altitude. The problem is that chlorine ions at high altitude are really not a good thing to have, so I don't expect much to come from this.
Is it worse than having methane?
Yes - Chlorine ions don't just react with methane, they try to react with everything, including ozone... There used to be a big problem with a lack of ozone due to the use of CFCs in aerosols.
I was under the impression that the truly harmful part of CFCs was the F, given its higher reactivity and less natural presence as an ion in the environment.
Weirdly, no, the most harmful part of the CFCs was the heavier and less reactive Cl. Turns out F is too reactive to be as harmful.
Yeh the F quickly forms a stable compound with whatever it can because it is really keen to donate it's electron. Cl sort of bimbles about, breaking up ozone left right and centre, lending it's electron the going "ah no I think I want that back, ta" then eventually finds something with which to bond.