Greenhouse contributions from tropospheric ozone
TES measurements allow scientists to quantify the greenhouse effect from tropospheric ozone, giving an upper limit for model estimates of climate forcing from human contributions to tropospheric ozone. Red areas indicate over 1.0 W/m2 instantaneous radiative forcing from tropospheric ozone, while dark blue represents around 0.1 W/m2.
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This image was created using NASA data from MODIS (continents), with TES measurements of the clear-sky ocean greenhouse effect from tropospheric ozone for 2006. Copyright NASA/JPL.
Back: Global Climate Change
Greenhouse gases contribute to global warming by trapping some of the energy that Earth radiates after being warmed by the sun. TES scientists are currently able to calculate how much energy is trapped at various altitudes by ozone and they’re in the process of doing the same with water vapor, the most abundant greenhouse gas. Upcoming work with TES data may similarly reveal the effects of methane.
