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.
A new study from the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN) and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) has shown that redesigning India's cereal cultivation patterns around nitrogen management could ...
Agriculture
Aug 24, 2026
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In the opening scene of American writer Kim Stanley Robinson's "The Ministry for the Future," a heat wave combined with a breakdown of the electrical grid in India kills 20 million people. The devastation causes the world's ...
Environment
Aug 24, 2026
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As autumn gives way to winter across the Arctic, the ground doesn't immediately freeze solid. Instead, soils often linger near the freezing point for days or even weeks in a phase called the zero curtain. In a new NASA-led ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 22, 2026
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We each need a roof over our heads, classrooms to learn in and offices or spaces to work in. To meet this unprecedented demand for new buildings, globally, we're constructing the equivalent of an entire New York City every ...
Environment
Aug 21, 2026
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Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide is boosting grass growth in Africa's water-limited savannas, according to a new study led by the University of Sheffield.
Environment
Aug 20, 2026
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Cornell engineers have developed a "digital twin" framework that creates a real-time virtual representation of urban carbon dioxide conditions, providing a tool that could help city planners monitor emissions, identify hotspots ...
Environment
Aug 20, 2026
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Methane-munching microbes in soil might be more important than previously thought, a new study finds. Soil is an important carbon sink, and scientists are still learning much about the diversity of its microbial communities. ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 20, 2026
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When was the last time you bought a loaf of bread?
Agriculture
Aug 20, 2026
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When people shop for a home, they tend to focus on the information listings put front and center: price, floor area, number of bedrooms and location. Rarely do listings show how a home can shape a household's carbon footprint ...
Environment
Aug 20, 2026
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A new analysis of ice cores collected from the Andes in Peru has produced the first global record of historical tropical methane, filling a critical gap in our understanding of the origins of Earth's greenhouse gases.
Earth Sciences
Aug 19, 2026
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