Latest Greenhouse effect Stories

Peter Suciu for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online It has long been known that light colors can reflect heat, while dark colors can absorb heat, but it is all a matter of light. This is because light is energy and darker colors have greater absorption, thus more heat. Even light-colored materials, such as cement or concrete, can absorb heat during the day and release it at night. Because buildings are used primarily during the day, it is typically required to cool them during the...

Temperatures are rising four times faster in the Artic than the global average, a new University of Melbourne study shows. The combination of melting sea ice and global warming are contributing to the different rates. Professor Ian Simmonds from the University of Melbourne’s School of Earth Sciences, co-author of the study, said this information showed that a combined effect at ground and atmospheric level played a key role in raising the rate of warming in the Arctic. “Loss of sea...

[ Watch the Video ] NOAA’s updated Annual Greenhouse Gas Index (AGGI), which measures the direct climate influence of many greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane, shows a continued steady upward trend that began with the Industrial Revolution of the 1880s. Started in 2004, the AGGI reached 1.29 in 2010. That means the combined heating effect of long-lived greenhouse gases added to the atmosphere by human activities has increased by 29 percent since 1990, the “index”...

The mass extinction of marine life in our oceans during prehistoric times is a warning that the Earth will see such an extinction again because of high levels of greenhouse gases, according to new research by geologists.Professor Martin Kennedy from the University of Adelaide (School of Earth & Environmental Sciences) and Professor Thomas Wagner from Newcastle University (Civil Engineering and Geosciences) have been studying 'greenhouse oceans' "“ oceans that have been depleted of...

Water vapor and clouds are the major contributors to Earth's greenhouse effect, but a new atmosphere-ocean climate modeling study shows that the planet's temperature ultimately depends on the atmospheric level of carbon dioxide.The study, conducted by Andrew Lacis and colleagues at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York, examined the nature of Earth's greenhouse effect and clarified the role that greenhouse gases and clouds play in absorbing outgoing infrared radiation....

No extreme greenhouse needed to keep water wetFour billion years ago, our then stripling sun radiated only 70 to 75 percent as much energy as it does today. Other things on Earth being equal, with so little energy reaching the planet's surface, all water on the planet should been have frozen. But ancient rocks hold ample evidence that the early Earth was awash in liquid water "“ a planetary ocean of it. So something must have compensated for the reduced solar output and kept Earth's water...

HAMPTON, Va. Oct. 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A group of NASA scientists and engineers are in the midst of an unusual field campaign in one of the world's driest places to learn more about how water vapor controls the climate of the planet.The team from NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., are in the Atacama Desert in Chile, using a new instrument to observe a band of infrared radiation activity of the atmosphere that is thought to account for half of all Earth's cooling emissions...

So you're a manufacturer about to introduce a new consumer product to the marketplace. Will that product or the manufacture of the product contribute to global warming through the greenhouse effect? Until now, there was no clear way to answer that question. Scientists are reporting development of a new method for screening molecules and predicting how certain materials, ranging from chemicals used in carpeting to electronics, will contribute to global warming. Their study is scheduled for the...

WASHINGTON -- A nagging difference in temperature readings that had raised questions about global warming has been resolved, a panel of scientists reported Tuesday."This significant discrepancy no longer exists because errors in the satellite and radiosonde data have been identified and corrected," researchers said in the first of 21 assessment reports planned by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program.The findings show clear evidence of human influences on climate due to changes in...

By Robert EvansGENEVA -- Greenhouse gases blamed for global warming and climate change have reached their highest ever levels in the atmosphere, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Tuesday.A bulletin from the United Nations agency said the gases -- the main warming culprit carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and nitrous oxide -- "all reached new highs in 2004."WMO officials also indicated that a near record year-on-year rise in CO2 levels for 2005 recorded by U.S. monitors...