Greenhouse gases are atmospheric constituents that absorb and emit infrared radiation, thereby contributing to the greenhouse effect and Earth’s radiative energy balance. Major greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O), ozone (O₃), and various halogenated compounds, along with water vapour (H₂O) as a feedback agent. Their radiative forcing depends on concentration, spectral absorption properties, atmospheric lifetime, and overlap with other absorbers. In climate research, greenhouse gases are quantified via metrics such as global warming potential and effective radiative forcing to assess their contribution to anthropogenic climate change and to inform emissions mitigation strategies.
Moderate volcanic eruptions and extreme wildfires since 2005 have led to an increase in the amount of water vapor in the stratosphere, a layer of Earth's atmosphere above the weather-filled troposphere. That's potentially ...
A newer "climate-friendly" refrigerant used in car air conditioning systems may already be a significant, and possibly dominant, source of a "forever chemical" pollutant across Europe, according to a new University of Bristol-led ...
Environment
Jul 8, 2026
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It started as a joke. Representatives of menswear brand MJ Bale had spent three days in a design sprint with CSIRO scientists trying to nail what kind of tool the company needed to prove its sustainability credentials.
Environment
Jul 7, 2026
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Climate pledges are designed to help countries reduce emissions and adapt to a changing climate, but the current iterations of these pledges place additional stresses on vulnerable nations, an international team of researchers ...
Environment
Jul 6, 2026
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As the UK prepares for the third heat wave of 2026, most people will be hoping to keep cool at home. Building regulations to protect homes from overheating were introduced in 2022. These require all new homes to be checked ...
Environment
Jul 6, 2026
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The world's oceans are the hottest on record for June, pushing past records set during the 2023–24 El Niño years.
Environment
Jul 5, 2026
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Published in Nature Climate Change, new research from the University of Wisconsin–Madison finds that reaching net-zero emissions by midcentury would substantially improve public health in the United States. However, climate ...
Environment
Jul 1, 2026
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Isoprene is a volatile organic compound (VOC) that is produced naturally by plants. More than 500 megatonnes of isoprene are emitted each year into Earth's atmosphere, primarily from tropical forests. Soils are recognized ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 30, 2026
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Some periods in Earth's history are so different from our own that they may as well belong to another planet. Many people are interested in the age of dinosaurs or the Ice Ages, but it is an intermediate world, the Miocene ...
Ecology
Jun 28, 2026
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In a Penn State lab, a small cylinder of soil sits wired with sensors, slowly cooling as it mimics conditions thousands of miles away.
Earth Sciences
Jun 27, 2026
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