Global Warming Potential Of Green House Gases
It is already a well known fact that green house gases contribute vastly to the global warming problem the world is facing. These are gases are responsible for the absorption and emission of radiation which adds to the gaping hole of the ozone layer.
When these gases are on work, the earth’s atmosphere becomes hotter. The hotter the atmosphere the more ice is melted in the polar ice caps making the sea levels rise and rise. When this happens, there is flooding and even scorching temperatures in some places in the world.
Now, we all know that there are a couple green house gases that contribute to the overall green house effect and global warming. However, did you know that each green house gas has a specific potential that could help global warming? This is called the global warming potential or GWP. Each green house gas is measured for this potential and is monitored regularly to know which ones are affecting the atmosphere the most.
The main green house gases consist of water vapour (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and ozone (O3). While there are also other green house gases that contribute to global warming including sulfur hexafluoride, hydrofluorocarbons and perfluorocarbons.
The GWP of some of green house gases on a twenty year scale are the following: carbon dioxide (1), methane (72), nitrous oxide (289), CFC-12 (11,000) HCFC-22 (5,160), Tetrafluoromethane (5,210), Hexafluoroethane (8630), Sulphur hexafluoride (16,300),Nitrogen Trifluoride (12,300).
The GWP is measured through the efficiency of the green house gas as well as its lifetime in the atmosphere. So if a gas has quite a high radioactive force but on the other hand has a short life time then it will rate differently basing on different scales which include a 20 yr scale, 100 yr scale and a 500 yr scale.
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