Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The carbon footprint explained Comparison of the carbon footprint of protein-rich foods [1]. A formal definition of carbon footprint is as follows: "A measure of the total amount of carbon dioxide (CO 2) and methane (CH 4) emissions of a defined population, system or activity, considering all relevant sources, sinks and storage within the spatial and temporal boundary of the population, system ...
Deforestation, for example, decreases the biosphere's ability to absorb carbon, thus increasing the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. [24] As the industrial use of carbon by humans is a very new dynamic on a geologic scale, it is important to be able to track sources and sinks of carbon in the atmosphere.
This is an accepted version of this page This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 30 January 2025. Visible mass of liquid droplets or frozen crystals suspended in the atmosphere "Nephology" redirects here. Not to be confused with Nephrology. For other uses, see Cloud (disambiguation). Cloudscape over Borneo, taken by the International Space Station Part of a series on Weather ...
The interaction between cloud formation and climate change is an aspect of atmospheric science. Clouds have a dual role [6] in the Earth's climate system: they can cool the Earth's surface by reflecting incoming solar radiation (albedo effect) and warm it by trapping outgoing infrared radiation (greenhouse effect).
Human activities over the past two centuries have increased the amount of carbon in the atmosphere by nearly 50% as of year 2020, mainly in the form of carbon dioxide, both by modifying ecosystems' ability to extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and by emitting it directly, e.g., by burning fossil fuels and manufacturing concrete. [3] [7]
A carbon footprint (or greenhouse gas footprint) is a calculated value or index that makes it possible to compare the total amount of greenhouse gases that an activity, product, company or country adds to the atmosphere. Carbon footprints are usually reported in tonnes of emissions (CO 2-equivalent) per unit of comparison.
The International Energy Agency estimates that the top 1% of emitters globally each had carbon footprints of over 50 tonnes of CO 2 in 2021, more than 1,000 times greater than those of the bottom 1% of emitters. The global average energy-related carbon footprint is around 4.7 tonnes of CO 2 per person. [47]
The study of Earth's atmosphere and its processes is called atmospheric science (aerology), and includes multiple subfields, such as climatology and atmospheric physics. Early pioneers in the field include Léon Teisserenc de Bort and Richard Assmann. [4] The study of historic atmosphere is called paleoclimatology.