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.
Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere enters the ocean at the surface and has been increasing the acidity of Pacific waters since the beginning of the industrial revolution over 200 years ago. A new study, led by University of ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 19, 2025
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Nearly 600 million people across the African continent still lack access to electricity. Close to one billion rely on traditional biofuels for cooking. Africa is also very vulnerable to climate change, even though it has ...
Environment
Aug 18, 2025
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30
Roughly two-thirds of all emissions of atmospheric methane—a highly potent greenhouse gas that is warming planet Earth—come from microbes that live in oxygen-free environments like wetlands, rice fields, landfills and the ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 14, 2025
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Rising concentrations of carbon dioxide in the upper atmosphere will change the way geomagnetic storms impact Earth, with potential implications for thousands of orbiting satellites, according to new research led by scientists ...
Planetary Sciences
Aug 14, 2025
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According to the 35th annual State of the Climate report, greenhouse gas concentrations, the global temperature across land and oceans, global sea level, and ocean heat content all reached record highs in 2024, and glaciers ...
Environment
Aug 14, 2025
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Natural weathering processes are removing CO2 from the air in a wide range of environments across continents and oceans. Until recently, these "CO2 vacuum cleaners" were often studied separately, without properly examining ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 7, 2025
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While it was already known that Brussels ponds were sources of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, a scientific study by researchers from the University of Liège (ULiège) and the Free University of Brussels reveals that clear ...
Environment
Aug 6, 2025
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A research team led by Dr. Shi Hailiang at the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a novel infrared imaging payload and AI-based retrieval framework capable of detecting carbon ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 5, 2025
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Fluorocarbons, which are widely used in refrigeration, air conditioning, foam insulation, and fire suppression, are potent greenhouse gases. Despite international regulations under the Montreal Protocol and its Kigali Amendment, ...
Environment
Aug 4, 2025
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29
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas with a much stronger short-term effect on warming than carbon dioxide. Over the near-term (20 years), 1 ton of methane has the warming effect of up to 84 tons of carbon dioxide, while over ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 30, 2025
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