Difference between revisions of "Greenhouse gas increase"
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==Description:== | ==Description:== | ||
Greenhouse 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. Since the beginning of the Industrial revolution, the burning of fossil fuels has substantially increased the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. | |||
The 2007 Fourth Assessment Report compiled by the IPCC (AR4) noted 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" | |||
Therefore the UNFCCC, the governing UN body of all global climate conferences and the Kyoto protocol, makes regular inventories of the following anthropogenetic GHG: | |||
CO2 - Carbon dioxide | |||
CH4 - Methane | |||
N2O - Nitrous oxide | |||
PFCs - Perfluorocarbons | |||
HFCs - Hydrofluorocarbons | |||
SF6 - Sulphur hexafluoride | |||
as well as for the indrect greenhouse gases such as SO2, NOx, CO and NMVOC. | |||
Data about these gases can be found under web resources. | |||
Under Timing you see data that highlight the increase of anthropogenetic gases in our atmosphere. This increase is caused by the enablers. GHG are thus the cause for global warming. | |||
IPCC 2007 | |||
==Enablers:== | ==Enablers:== |