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365 Days of Climate Awareness 319 – Global Warming Potential [1]

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Date: 2022-06-28 00:00:00

Global warming potential is treated as a scalar: that is to say, a number without units, because all greenhouse gases are compared to carbon dioxide. CO 2 , by definition, has a GWP of 1. Since the gases have vastly different lifetimes: carbon dioxide, roughly 120 years, methane roughly 10.4, and CFCs less than that, their warming potential is averaged into a 100-year span. A few principle gases, using this 100-year average, are listed below. (For concentrations: ppm = parts per million; ppb = parts per billion; ppt = parts per trillion.)

Atmospheric methane concentration. Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ): GWP = 1; lifetime ~120 yrs (but can vary widely); 410 ppm Methane (CH 4 ): GWP = 28; lifetime = 10.5 yrs; 1,800 ppb Nitrous oxide (N 2 O): GWP = 265; lifetime = 132 yrs; 380 ppb Various chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs): 4,660-13,900; lifetimes 16-500 yrs; 1-100 ppt Sulfur hexafluoride (SF 6 ): GWP = 23,500; lifetime = 3,200 yrs; 10 ppt

Different time frames (20 years, 200 years) are used by different agencies around the world, but the concept is the same: amount of energy absorbed by a given mass of greenhouse gas during that timEPA - greenhouse gas concentrationse, given the average solar input of roughly 1.366 kW/sq m. With this statistical tool scientists can directly compare the impacts of various gases, though for high-resolution climate modeling, the different gases with their distinct behaviors are accounted for separately.

Tomorrow: introduction to general circulation models.

Be brave, be steadfast, and be well.

Sources

EPA — Understanding Global Warming Potentials

GHGprotocol.org

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