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.
Livestock farming causes a significant share of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. According to a new study, the carbon footprint of milk may be considerably larger than commonly calculated when carbon released from the ...
Environment
Apr 21, 2026
2
9
Researchers at The University of Manchester have shown that microbial communities from terrestrial hot springs could be harnessed to convert industrial CO2 emissions into useful products, offering new routes toward a circular, ...
Environment
Apr 20, 2026
0
5
Scientific models have predicted that climate change will drive oceans in the Northern Hemisphere to warm faster than oceans in the Southern Hemisphere. However, observational data over the last 70 years show the opposite—that ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 20, 2026
0
39
Nitrogen (N) fertilizer supports global agriculture, but its use and overuse drive emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O), a potent and long-lived trace gas. Incomplete understanding of N2O flux drivers makes it difficult to make ...
Environment
Apr 18, 2026
0
8
Burning time for North American wildfires is going into overtime. Flames are lasting later into the night and starting earlier in the morning because human-caused climate change is extending the hotter and drier conditions ...
Environment
Apr 18, 2026
0
28
Rising stream temperatures may be weakening the foundation of river food webs by altering how carbon moves through these watery ecosystems. In a new study published in the journal Ecosphere, researchers from Northern Arizona ...
Ecology
Apr 17, 2026
0
26
The recovery of the ozone layer in Earth's stratosphere could be delayed by several years, according to an international study led by Swiss research institution Empa which included contributions from University of Bristol ...
Environment
Apr 16, 2026
0
11
Energy, transport, heating and industrial transition: A major modeling study now provides EU-wide guidance with high sector detail on the required pace of transition to fossil-free technologies. The conclusion is encouraging: ...
Environment
Apr 16, 2026
0
10
Because methane has around 80 times the warming potential of CO2 over a 20-year period, it has been a major focus for climate action groups. The Global Methane Pledge, launched at COP26 in November 2021, aims to cut human-caused ...
Organic soils cover less than 9% of Norway's land area, and about 65,000 hectares are currently used as agricultural land. Emissions from these areas are presently estimated at more than 2 million tons of CO₂ equivalents ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 15, 2026
0
7
