Category 1: Stratospheric Ozone
The stratosphere contains approximately 97% of this protective gas in the atmosphere
What is Ozone?
This greenhouse gas is used as the baseline for Global Warming Potential (GWP), meaning its GWP is set exactly at 1.
What is Carbon Dioxide (CO2)?
This phenomenon occurs when water gets warmer and its molecules move farther apart, increasing the oceans' volume and contributing to sea level rise.
What is Thermal Expansion?
The world's oceans act as a major global sink by absorbing approximately one quarter of the atmospheric emissions of this gas each year.
What is Carbon Dioxide (CO2)?
One strategy to reduce ozone depletion is to offer these financial incentives to people for turning in old refrigerators and air conditioners.
What are Tax Credits (or Rebates)?
This specific type of ultraviolet radiation causes blistering sunburns and is associated with skin cancer.
What is UVB?
This greenhouse gas stays in the atmosphere for about 15 years and is emitted by rice cultivation, landfills, and cattle raising.
What is Methane (CH4)?
By the year 2050, the United Nations estimates that this many people will need to be relocated worldwide due to coastal flooding and shoreline erosion.
What is 150 million?
When increased carbon dioxide from the atmosphere combines with ocean water, it directly forms this acid.
What is Carbonic Acid (H2CO3)?
This 1987 global agreement aimed to successfully phase chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) out of production.
What is the Montreal Protocol?
These human-made chemicals, first manufactured during the 1920s and used in aerosol sprays and refrigerants, are the main cause of ozone layer degradation.
What are Chlorofluorocarbons (or CFCs)?
The primary source of this greenhouse gas is the use of agricultural fertilizers.
What is Nitrous Oxide (N2O)?
Warmer temperatures allow these living organisms, such as mosquitoes and ticks, to expand their range and spread diseases like malaria and Zika.
What are Disease Vectors?
This condition occurs when stressed coral reefs lose their symbiotic algae, causing them to lose their color and become vulnerable to disease.
What is Coral Bleaching?
Due to international requirements, HCFCs are slated to be completely phased out and no longer used after this upcoming year.
What is 2030?
Thinning of the ozone layer was first discovered in 1986 over this icy continent.
What is Antarctica?
These compounds were introduced as coolants to replace CFCs, but they are still 1,725 times greater in their greenhouse warming potential compared to carbon dioxide.
What are HCFCs (Hydrochlorofluorocarbons)?
Global warming is melting this permanently frozen tundra soil, which then releases trapped methane and CO2 as it thaws.
What is Permafrost?
Because warm water holds less of this dissolved gas, ocean warming has caused many marine populations to decline due to respiratory stress.
What is Oxygen (O2)?
Helium, ammonia, butane, and this gas can be used as coolant alternatives to ozone-depleting HCFCs and CFCs.
What is Propane?
Because chlorine monoxide reacts with more ozone in a chain reaction, one single chlorine atom can ultimately destroy over this many ozone molecules.
What is 100,000?
Found in fire extinguishers, these halocarbons have a massive relative warming potential of 6,000.
What are Halons?
The melting of sea ice exposes more ocean water, which absorbs more sunlight than ice, leading to even more ice melting in this type of self-amplifying cycle.
What is a Positive Feedback Loop?
Ice melt from this large island creates cold, less dense freshwater that prevents sinking and slows the warmer Gulf Stream waters.
What is Greenland?
Another strategy is to introduce these financial penalties on products produced in countries that still allow the use of chlorofluorocarbons.
What are Tariffs?