Trends in Atmospheric Sulfur Hexafluoride
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Provided by: NOAA|Published on: April 27, 2021
Data, Graphs, and Maps
Scientist Reviewed
6789101112
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Synopsis
- How has the amount of sulfur hexafluoride in the atmosphere changed over the past 40 years? This site allows users to interact with graphs and datasets to answer this question.
- Students will be able to see graphs depicting global average sulfur hexafluoride amounts in the atmosphere and read text describing the data and how it was gathered.

Subjects: Earth and Space Sciences
Authors: NOAA
Region: Global
Languages: English
Teaching Materials
Positives
- The graphs are simple and easy to interpret.
Additional Prerequisites
- Teachers may want to provide some background about sulfur hexafluoride's relationship to climate change.
- Students may need help understanding the units mole fraction and parts per billion.
- If the technical reading is distracting, there are PDFs of the graphs and data that teachers can use instead.
- The data is also downloadable in CSV files.
Differentiation
- The reading is very technical and is probably most appropriate for upper high school students.
- Students can work independently or in a small group to create a list of noticings and wonderings about the data.
- Students could research how sulfur hexafluoride is released into the atmosphere and potential solutions to limit this greenhouse gas.
- Other helpful resources include this video about greenhouse gases from Hot Mess and this video about the greenhouse effect from Khan Academy.
Scientist Notes
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
Scientist Reviewed
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Our review process ensures that every resource in our library reflects the current state of climate science.
Learn about our review process →




