CLIMATE CHANGE TERMINOLOGIES
Greenhouse Effect:
Greenhouse gases act like a blanket around Earth, trapping energy in the atmosphere and causing it to warm. This phenomenon of trapping and build-up of heat in the atmosphere (troposphere) near the Earth's surface is called the greenhouse effect and is natural and necessary to support life on Earth. Some of the heat flowing back towards space from the Earth's surface is absorbed by water vapour, carbon dioxide, ozone and several other gases in the atmosphere and then reradiated back towards the Earth's surface. If the atmospheric concentrations of these greenhouse gases rise, the average temperature of the lower atmosphere will gradually increase.
Greenhouse Gas (GHG):
Any gas that absorbs infrared radiation in the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH), nitrous oxide (N₂O), ozone (O3). chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluoride.
Global Warming:
It refers to the recent and ongoing rise in global average temperature near Earth's surface. It is caused mostly by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Global warming is causing climate patterns to change. However, global warming itself represents only one aspect of climate change.