Although it is usually simplified by saying “carbon” or “carbon dioxide”, the fact is that the Greenhouse gases that cause climate change and global warming are several and very different. There are more harmful than carbon dioxide or abbreviated, CO2. And there are those that remain more or less time in the atmosphere. CO2 is the paradigm because it is the most abundant. In this ecology article, we respond to the question of How long the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere remain.
The greenhouse effect
The four main greenhouse gases are the carbon dioxide (CO2), the methane (CH, nitrous oxide (N2O) and Halocarbons either CFC (Gases containing fluoride, chlorine and bromine). These gases remain in the atmosphere a certain period of time that can go From some months to thousands of years. But it should be noted that, while remaining in the atmosphere, they will be affecting the weather.
The reduction of carbon dioxide (CO is essential in the fight against climate change because it is the most produced by the human being with its activities. It is also probably the most difficult to determine, since there are some processes that eliminate carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (the best known, the absorption of plants to perform photosynthesis).
Chemical weathering
Between 65% and 80% of CO2 released to the atmosphere dissolves in the ocean and remains there for a period of between twenty -two hundred years. The rest is slowly eliminated, thanks to processes that can last hundreds of thousands of years, processes such as weathering chemistry or rock formation. In short, once it is in the atmosphere, carbon dioxide can continue to affect the weather for thousands of years.
He methane, Instead, it disappears from the atmosphere by chemical reaction, although It persists for about twelve years. Thus, although methane is a very powerful greenhouse gas, its effect is relatively short duration.
He nitrous oxide It accumulates in the stratosphere and disappears from the atmosphere more slowly than methane, then It persists for more than a hundred years.
Compounds containing chlorine or fluoride
Finally, the compounds containing chlorine or fluoride (CFC, HCFC, HFC, PFC) have different behaviors: they can be in the atmosphere from less than a year to thousands of years. The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel for the Fight against Climate Change) has published an extensive list pointing how long the CFCs and other greenhouse gases remain in the atmosphere.
Water vapor also affects the weather, but is considered as part of a kind of feedback circuit and not a direct cause of climate change. It is released thanks to the rain and snow.
If you want to read more articles similar to How long are greenhouse gases in the atmosphere?we recommend that you enter our category of climate change.
