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.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with greenhouse gas
Researchers engineer bacteria to turn carbon dioxide into liquid fuel
Dec 10, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (43) |
25
(PhysOrg.com) -- The genetically modified cyanobacterium consumes carbon dioxide and produces the liquid fuel isobutanol by using energy from sunlight.
Hackers leak e-mails, stoke climate debate
Nov 21, 2009 |
3.6 / 5 (74) |
45
(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 ...
Mysteriously warm times in Antarctica
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 18, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (26) |
31
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study of Antarctica's past climate reveals that temperatures during the warm periods between ice ages (interglacials) may have been higher than previously thought. The latest analysis ...
Controversial new climate change results
Nov 10, 2009 |
4.1 / 5 (49) |
131
(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 ...
Japan eyes solar station in space as new energy source
Nov 08, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (23) |
32
It may sound like a sci-fi vision, but Japan's space agency is dead serious: by 2030 it wants to collect solar power in space and zap it down to Earth, using laser beams or microwaves.
Algae may be secret weapon in climate change war
Oct 22, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (8) |
4
Driven by fluctuations in oil prices, and seduced by the prospect of easing climate change, experts are ramping up efforts to squeeze fuel out of a promising new organism: pond scum.
Last time carbon dioxide levels were this high: 15 million years ago, scientists report
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 08, 2009 |
3.6 / 5 (63) |
137
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.
Color-changing roof tiles absorb heat in winter, reflect it in summer
Oct 08, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (19) |
9
(PhysOrg.com) -- Anyone who has ever stepped barefoot onto blacktop pavement on a hot sunny day knows the phenomenon very well: Black surfaces absorb the sun's heat very efficiently, producing a toe-scorching ...
Arctic at warmest levels in 2,000 years or more
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Sep 03, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (64) |
25
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 ...
Methane gas likely spewing into the oceans through vents in sea floor (w/ Video)
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Sep 02, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (10) |
8
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists worry that rising global temperatures accompanied by melting permafrost in arctic regions will initiate the release of underground methane into the atmosphere. Once released, that ...
Opening the Door for CO2
Aug 24, 2009 |
3.8 / 5 (9) |
4
(PhysOrg.com) -- Until recently, factory smokestacks that produced nothing but carbon dioxide and water vapor were considered exemplary. Now CO2 has become notorious as a greenhouse gas, and the danger of climate change has ...
Long debate ended over cause, demise of ice ages -- may also help predict future
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Aug 06, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (23) |
63
Researchers have largely put to rest a long debate on the underlying mechanism that has caused periodic ice ages on Earth for the past 2.5 million years - they are ultimately linked to slight shifts in solar radiation caused ...
Ghost alps of Antarctica are glimpsed after 14 million years
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jun 03, 2009 |
3.6 / 5 (18) |
2
Millions of years ago, rivers ran in Antarctica through craggy mountain valleys that were strangely similar to the European Alps of today, Chinese and British scientists reported on Wednesday.
Meteorite bombardment may have made Earth more habitable
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jun 01, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (7) |
3
(PhysOrg.com) -- Large bombardments of meteorites approximately four billion years ago could have helped to make the early Earth and Mars more habitable for life by modifying their atmospheres, suggests the ...
Ethanol vs. Electricity: Biomass converted into electricity could be more efficient than ethanol (w/Video)
May 07, 2009 |
3.7 / 5 (10) |
11
(PhysOrg.com) -- Concerns over petroleum gas prices and long-term effects of greenhouse gas emissions on the environment have prompted scientists to look for alternative renewable energy sources for transportation ...
