A quantum of carbon: scientists devise new way to observe greenhouse effect

Technique to unravel how each molecule of CO2 absorbs light allows more accurate predictions about how much the Earth is likely to warm, reports Climate News Network

British scientists have devised a new way to observe the greenhouse world, enabling researchers to measure with exquisite accuracy how atmospheric carbon dioxide builds up, migrates, evolves and absorbs radiation.

The technique will allow more accurate predictions about how much the Earth is likely to warm over the next few decades as a result of the inexorable rise in atmospheric CO₂ - from car exhausts, power station chimneys and burning forests - that drives global warming and climate change.