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.
Reducing aircraft soot emissions may not reduce contrail clouds, according to in-flight observations of emissions from a passenger jet with modern "lean-burn" engines, reported in Nature. Contrails from aircraft contribute ...
Environment
Apr 1, 2026
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Emissions of two major pollutants have steadily decreased on Salt Lake City roads over the past two decades, while levels of carbon dioxide emissions, a related gas blamed for climate change, remained steady, according to ...
Environment
Apr 1, 2026
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The emissions trading system launched by the European Union in 2005 could one day also be used to capture CO₂ on a large scale. A new model study quantifies the potential, and outlines that phased integration of removals ...
Environment
Mar 31, 2026
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A new study shows that systems designed to capture methane from cow manure, called dairy digesters, are highly effective. But on the rare occasions they fail, the leaks are large enough to offset their climate benefits.
Environment
Mar 31, 2026
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35
Whenever humans arrive on Mars, they're going to find it a difficult place to exist. Mars is cold, with an average surface temperature of -55°C; temperatures can plunge to -125°C with dust storms lasting months; its atmosphere ...
Experiments by University of Leeds researchers, published in Earth's Future, have shown that thawing of permafrost makes it between 25 and 100 times more permeable, allowing more climate change forcing gases to escape.
Earth Sciences
Mar 30, 2026
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As the war in the Middle East is currently reminding us once again, many countries around the world are heavily reliant on oil and gas. Lax climate policy and limited options for removing CO₂ from the atmosphere could cement ...
Environment
Mar 26, 2026
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10
Fires are a recurring phenomenon in central South America, often intensified by drought and deforestation. In 2024, wildfire activity reached its highest levels in 20 years, affecting vast areas of the Amazon rainforest and ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 25, 2026
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The economic damage yet to come from carbon dioxide emitted decades ago far exceeds the harm it has wrought so far, according to a new Stanford University study. The research, published in Nature, puts a dollar value on the ...
Environment
Mar 25, 2026
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Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that is second only to carbon dioxide in driving up global temperatures. But it doesn't linger in the atmosphere for long thanks to molecules called hydroxyl radicals, which are known ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 24, 2026
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