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.
The world is warming. This fact is most often discussed for Earth's surface, where we live. But the climate is also changing from the top of the atmosphere to the bottom of the ocean. And there is a clear fingerprint of humanity's ...
Environment
Feb 7, 2026
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Implementing novel management practices in dairy farming, one of the commonwealth's major agricultural industries, could help alleviate a large source of both nutrient pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, according to ...
Biotechnology
Feb 6, 2026
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65
A combination of weakened atmospheric removal and increased emissions from warming wetlands, rivers, lakes, and agricultural land increased atmospheric methane at an unprecedented rate in the early 2020s, an international ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 5, 2026
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Forest soils have an important role in protecting our climate: They remove large quantities of methane—a powerful greenhouse gas—from our atmosphere. Researchers from the University of Göttingen and the Baden-Württemberg ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 4, 2026
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232
Scientists at the University of California, Irvine have discovered that climate change is causing nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas and ozone-depleting substance, to break down in the atmosphere more quickly than previously ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 3, 2026
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Ditches and canals are the underdog of the freshwater world. These human-made waterways are often forgotten, devalued, and perceived negatively—think "dull as ditchwater." But these unsung heroes have a hidden potential for ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 1, 2026
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20
A new study finds that Canada could remove at least five times its annual carbon emissions with strategic planting of more than six million trees along the northern edge of the boreal forest. The paper, "Substantial carbon ...
Environment
Feb 1, 2026
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447
Using a new method to track groundwater levels and greenhouse gas emissions, researchers uncover the climate impact of Southeast Asia's peatlands. In Indonesia, Malaysia, and other parts of Southeast Asia, vast areas spanning ...
Earth Sciences
Jan 30, 2026
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A new study out of York University has found that the amount of atmospheric trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), the tiniest forever chemical, significantly declined in Toronto during COVID in 2020, which researchers say is good news ...
Environment
Jan 29, 2026
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17
Wetlands make up only about 6% of the land area but contain about 30% of the terrestrial organic carbon pool. Therefore, CO2 emissions from wetlands are central to the global climate balance. In Denmark, the plan is to flood ...
Earth Sciences
Jan 29, 2026
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