Reference Terms
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Greenhouse gas
Greenhouse gases are components of the atmosphere that contribute to the greenhouse effect. Some greenhouse gases occur naturally in the atmosphere, while others result from human activities such as burning of fossil fuels such as coal. Greenhouse gases include water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone.
The major greenhouse gases are water vapor, which causes about 36-70% of the greenhouse effect on Earth (not including clouds); carbon dioxide, which causes 9-26%; methane, which causes 4-9%, and ozone, which causes 3-7%. It is not possible to state that a certain gas causes a certain percentage of the greenhouse effect, because the influences of the various gases are not additive. (The higher ends of the ranges quoted are for the gas alone; the lower ends, for the gas counting overlaps.) Other greenhouse gases include, but are not limited to, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and chlorofluorocarbons.
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Earth & Climate News
March 23, 2026
Mar. 23, 2026 People often get the environmental impact of food wrong, according to new research. While many assume processed foods are the worst, they tend to overlook the surprisingly high impact of items like nuts and underestimate how damaging beef really is. ...
Mar. 23, 2026 Tiny plastic particles aren’t just choking oceans and cities—they’re quietly infiltrating forests too. Scientists discovered that most microplastics arrive through the air, settling onto treetops before being washed or dropped to the forest ...
Mar. 22, 2026 Beavers may be unlikely climate heroes, but new research suggests they could play a powerful role in fighting climate change. By building dams and transforming streams into wetlands, these industrious animals dramatically reshape how carbon moves ...
Mar. 21, 2026 A hidden freshwater system deep beneath the Great Salt Lake has been revealed using airborne electromagnetic surveys. Scientists found that freshwater extends much farther under the lake than expected, reaching depths of up to 4 kilometers. The ...
Mar. 21, 2026 Antibiotics are accumulating in a major Brazilian river, especially during the dry season when pollution becomes more concentrated. Scientists even detected a banned drug inside fish sold for food, raising concerns about human exposure. A common ...
Mar. 20, 2026 A mysterious spike of platinum buried deep in Greenland’s ice has long fueled theories of a catastrophic comet or asteroid strike 12,800 years ago—possibly triggering a sudden return to icy conditions known as the Younger Dryas. But new research ...
Mar. 19, 2026 Tropical peatlands, some of the planet’s largest underground carbon stores, are now burning at levels never seen in at least 2,000 years. By analyzing charcoal preserved in peat across multiple continents, scientists discovered that fires had ...
Mar. 18, 2026 Pink granite boulders sitting mysteriously atop Antarctica’s Hudson Mountains have led scientists to a stunning discovery: a hidden granite mass buried beneath Pine Island Glacier, stretching nearly 100 km wide and 7 km thick. By dating the rocks ...
Mar. 18, 2026 AI’s growing energy use sounds alarming, but its global climate impact may be far smaller than expected. Researchers found that while AI consumes huge amounts of electricity, it barely moves the needle on overall emissions. The real impact is more ...
Mar. 15, 2026 The asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs didn’t keep life down for long. New research shows that microscopic plankton began evolving into new species within just a few thousand years—and possibly in under 2,000 years—after the ...
Mar. 14, 2026 Spiders and insects may not be fan favorites, but they are vital to the health of ecosystems—and scientists barely know how they’re doing. Researchers found that nearly 90% of North America’s insect and arachnid species have no conservation ...
Mar. 12, 2026 Researchers have uncovered a universal pattern showing how temperature affects life on Earth. Across thousands of species—from microbes to reptiles—performance rises gradually with warming until an optimal temperature is reached, after which it ...
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Mar. 21, 2026 Scientists have uncovered the oldest direct evidence yet that Earth’s tectonic plates were on the move 3.5 billion years ago. By analyzing magnetic fingerprints in ancient rocks, they reconstructed ...
Mar. 15, 2026 A new detection method called “Jerk” could dramatically improve how scientists forecast volcanic eruptions. By using a single broadband ...
Mar. 14, 2026 Scientists may have finally solved the mystery of strange plume-like structures hidden deep inside the Greenland ice sheet. New research suggests ...
Mar. 12, 2026 Decades of data from over 80,000 great tits reveal that extreme weather can shape the fate of baby birds. Cold snaps soon after hatching and heavy rain later in development shrink nestling body mass ...
Mar. 12, 2026 Scientists at Curtin University have uncovered a new way to read the deep history of Earth’s landscapes using microscopic zircon crystals from ancient beach sands. These incredibly durable minerals ...
Mar. 11, 2026 As deep-sea waters warm, scientists expected trouble for the microbes that help keep ocean chemistry in balance. Instead, researchers found that Nitrosopumilus maritimus can adapt to warmer, ...
Mar. 11, 2026 A long-running debate about the Silverpit Crater beneath the North Sea has finally been resolved. Scientists now confirm it formed when a roughly 160-meter asteroid struck the seabed about 43–46 ...
Mar. 9, 2026 Global warming has picked up speed in the past decade, according to a new analysis from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). By removing short term natural influences such as El ...
Mar. 7, 2026 Gravity may seem constant, but it actually varies across the planet—and one of the strangest places is Antarctica, where gravity is slightly weaker than expected. Scientists have traced this ...
Mar. 6, 2026 Scientists have discovered a newly identified marine fungus that can infect and kill toxic algae responsible for harmful blooms. The microscopic parasite, named Algophthora mediterranea, attacks ...