Greenhouse gases: what they are, which ones there are and why they affect the climate
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| Gas |
Chemical formula |
Main sources | Lifetime in the atmosphere |
|---|---|---|---|
| Water vapour | H2O | Evaporation from oceans and bodies of water | Days |
| Carbon dioxide | CO2 | Fossil fuel combustion, deforestation | From decades to thousands of years |
| Methane | CH4 | Agriculture, livestock farming, landfill sites, gas and oil extraction | Approximately 12 years |
| Nitrous oxide | N2O |
Nitrogen fertilisers, combustion, industrial processes |
About a century |
| Fluorinated gases | HFC, PFC, SF6 | Refrigeration, air conditioning, industrial processes | From a few years to tens of thousands of years, depending on the compound |