Tag: ozone layer depletion and causes

The greenhouse gases are called so because they absorb the long wave infra-red radiations reflected from the earth's surface and trap them such that they do not get reflected back to space. This trapping of the long wave infra-red radiations causes an increase in the temperature of the atmosphere, called global warming. CO$ _{2}$, CH$ _{4}$, N$ _{2}$O, CFCs are the gases that are capable of showing greenhouse effect. These have increased in the concentration over the years due to the anthropogenic activities.

Global warming potential (GWP) is a measure of how much heat a greenhouse gas traps in the atmosphere up to a specific time horizon, relative to carbon dioxide. It compares the amount of heat trapped by a certain mass of the gas in question to the amount of heat trapped by a similar mass of carbon dioxide and is expressed as a factor of carbon dioxide an index of global warming potential for methane, carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide and CFCs relative to that of carbon dioxide. The major contribution is from CO$ _2$ (60%),CH$ _4$ (20%), CFC and N$ _2$O attributes to 14% and 6% respectively.