Radiative Forcing
The Art
The Science
“This indicator measures the “radiative forcing” or heating effect caused by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
This figure shows the amount of radiative forcing caused by various greenhouse gases, based on the change in concentration of these gases in the Earth’s atmosphere since 1750. Radiative forcing is calculated in watts per square meter, which represents the size of the energy imbalance in the atmosphere. On the right side of the graph, radiative forcing has been converted to the Annual Greenhouse Gas Index, which is set to a value of 1.0 for 1990.”
EPA Climate Change Indicators – Climate Forcing
Data source: NOAA, 20201
Web update: April 2021
