Related topics: climate change , carbon dioxide , global warming , greenhouse gas emissions , fossil fuels
Greenhouse gas
hideGreenhouse gases are gases in an atmosphere that absorb and emit radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. Common greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere include water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. In our solar system, the atmospheres of Venus, Mars and Titan also contain gases that cause greenhouse effects. Greenhouse gases greatly affect the temperature of the Earth; without them, Earth's surface would be on average about 33°C (59°F) colder than at present.
Human activities since the start of the industrial era around 1750 have increased the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The 2007 assessment report compiled by the IPCC observed that "changes in atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases and aerosols, land cover and solar radiation alter the energy balance of the climate system", and concluded that "increases in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations is very likely to have caused most of the increases in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century".
For more information about Greenhouse gas, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
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News tagged with greenhouse gas
Scientists warn of climate catastrophe
Jun 18, 2009 |
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The world faces a growing risk of "abrupt and irreversible climatic shifts" as fallout from global warming hits faster than expected, according to research by international scientists released Thursday.
Forests could flip from sink to source of CO2: study
Apr 17, 2009 |
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Forests that today soak up a quarter of carbon pollution spewed into the atmosphere could soon become a net source of CO2 if Earth's surface warms by another two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), cautions ...
Climate trouble may be bubbling up in far north
Aug 30, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Only a squawk from a sandhill crane broke the Arctic silence - and a low gurgle of bubbles, a watery whisper of trouble repeated in countless spots around the polar world.
Increasing Antarctic sea ice extent linked to the ozone hole
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Apr 21, 2009 |
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Increased growth in Antarctic sea ice during the past 30 years is a result of changing weather patterns caused by the ozone hole according to new research published this week (Thurs 23 April 2009).
Super-size deposits of frozen carbon threat to climate change
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jun 30, 2009 |
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The vast amount of carbon stored in the arctic and boreal regions of the world is more than double that previously estimated, according to a study published this week.
Arctic at warmest levels in 2,000 years or more
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Sep 03, 2009 |
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Arctic temperatures in the 1990s reached their warmest level of any decade in at least 2,000 years, new research indicates. The study, which incorporates geologic records and computer simulations, provides ...
Hackers leak e-mails, stoke climate debate
Nov 21, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Computer hackers have broken into a server at a well-respected climate change research center in Britain and posted hundreds of private e-mails and documents online - stoking debate over whether some scientists have ...
Obama to unveil dramatic new auto emissions standards
May 19, 2009 |
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A new front in the battle against climate change will open Tuesday, when President Barack Obama unveils sweeping new auto regulations described as equivalent to taking 177 million cars off the road.
Deadly heat waves are becoming more frequent in California
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Aug 25, 2009 |
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From mid July to early August 2006, a heat wave swept through the southwestern United States. Temperature records were broken at many locations and unusually high humidity levels for this typically arid region ...
Last time carbon dioxide levels were this high: 15 million years ago, scientists report
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 08, 2009 |
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You would have to go back at least 15 million years to find carbon dioxide levels on Earth as high as they are today, a UCLA scientist and colleagues report Oct. 8 in the online edition of the journal Science.
Beetles, wildfire: Double threat in warming world
Aug 23, 2009 |
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(AP) -- A veil of smoke settled over the forest in the shadow of the St. Elias Mountains, in a wilderness whose spruce trees stood tall and gray, a deathly gray even in the greenest heart of a Yukon summer.
Researchers engineer bacteria to turn carbon dioxide into liquid fuel
Dec 10, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The genetically modified cyanobacterium consumes carbon dioxide and produces the liquid fuel isobutanol by using energy from sunlight.
Controversial new climate change results
Nov 10, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- New data show that the balance between the airborne and the absorbed fraction of CO2 has stayed approximately constant since 1850, despite emissions of CO2 having risen from about 2 billion ...
Antarctic ice loss vaster, faster than thought: study
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 22, 2009 |
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The East Antarctic icesheet, once seen as largely unaffected by global warming, has lost billions of tonnes of ice since 2006 and could boost sea levels in the future, according to a new study.
Study reveals potential to amass more carbon in eastern North American forests
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Apr 06, 2009 |
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With climate change looming, the hunt for places that can soak up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is on.
