There is a good, but by no means certain, chance that the world’s average climate will become significantly warmer during the next century, because of the increasing atmospheric concentrations of infrared-absorbing and re-radiating, so-called “greenhouse” gases. These comprise compounds with three or more atoms per molecule. They included carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons, tropospheric ozone, and several others present in trace concentrations (water vapor is also a greenhouse gas).

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