UC Irvine

GASES INVOLVED IN THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT Scientists now know enough about the properties of chemicals that can be effective greenhouse gases that we can list the potential key contributors to the effect and we can dismiss many other chemicals that do not possess the right properties. In the table of data that accompanies the written text of my testimony (Figure 15.1), I summarize data on greenhouse gases that are actually piling up in the atmosphere. I will read the lines and in between the lines of that table now. You will see that the composition of the atmosphere and hence the greenhouse radiative forcing of the system are entering into uncharted territories. Testimony given in a joint hearing before the Subcommittees on Environmental Protection and Hazardous Wastes and Toxic Substances of the Committee on Environment and Public Works, U.S. Senate, One-hundredth Congress, first session, 28 January 1987.