Green house gas

Although California may be enjoying a lull in this year’s wildfire season — courtesy of a While residents here have been spared the hardship of massive wildfires burning across the Canadian wilderness and the In a study published recently in the journal Study authors determined that California wildfires consumed five times more area between 1996 and 2021 than in the 25 years prior — an increase chiefly attributed to climate change. Researchers also determined that the 50-year period as a whole saw a 172% increase in burn area. “This is very, very high,” said study co-author Amir AghaKouchak, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at UC Irvine. “Even if it was much lower, still it would be significant, but 172% is really serious.” There are several mechanisms through which humans are contributing to larger burn areas, but one primary factor is temperature, he said. As greenhouse gases and other emissions AghaKouchak said similar attribution studies — such as those that look at the effect of climate change on extreme precipitation or heat waves — might show increases of 15% or 20%, “but then you look look at fire — 172% on average — that’s huge,” he said. Indeed, the findings join a growing body of research that seeks to determine the role of climate change on extreme events. Last month, a similar paper found that In California, 18 of the 20 largest fires on record have burned since the year 2000, according to the 2020 was the state’s Unprecedented warming in the...

Standards of living are difficult to measure, but indicators of social development are available. A basic measure, per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is the value of all goods and services produced within a region over a given time period, averaged per person. A more advanced metric, the Human Development Index (HDI), considers life expectancy, education, and Gross National Income (GNI). The three highest HDI-ranked countries are Norway, Ireland and Switzerland. The Greenhouse Effect The greenhouse effect is a natural phenomenon that insulates the Earth from the cold of space. As incoming solar radiation is absorbed and re-emitted back from the Earth’s surface as infrared energy, greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere prevent some of this heat from escaping into space, instead reflecting the energy back to further warm the surface. Anthropogenic (human-caused) GHG emissions are modifying the Earth’s energy balance between incoming solar radiation and the heat released back into space, amplifying the greenhouse effect and resulting in climate change. 1 Greenhouse Gases • There are ten primary GHGs; of these, water vapor (H 2O), carbon dioxide (CO 2), methane (CH 4), and nitrous oxide (N 2O) are naturally occurring. Perfluorocarbons (CF 6, C 2F 6), hydroflurocarbons (CHF 3, CF 3CH 2F, CH 3CHF 2), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF 6) are only present in the atmosphere due to industrial processes. 3 • Water vapor is the most abundant and dominant GHG in the atmosphere. Its ...