Trace gas causes its strong absorption of infrared radiation. Below is a table of some of the major greenhouse gases with man-made sources and their contribution to the enhanced greenhouse effect. Key Greenhouse Gases and Sources In contrast, the most abundant gases in the atmosphere are not greenhouse gases. The main reasons is because they cannot absorb infrared radiation as they do not have vibrations with a dipole moment. For instance, the triple bonds of atmospheric dinitrogen make for a highly symmetric molecule that is very inert in the atmosphere. The residence time of a trace gas depends on the abundance and
Computation of radiowave attenuation in the atmosphere Computation of radiowave attenuation in the atmosphere One of the causes of attenuation of radio propagation is the absorption by the atmosphere. There are many well known facts on the phenomenon and qualitative treatments in textbooks. A document published by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) provides some basis for a quantitative assessment of the attenuation. That document describes a simplified model along with semi-empirical formulas based on data fitting. It also recommended an algorithm to compute the attenuation of radiowave propagation in the atmosphere. NASA also published a study on a related subject. Free software from CNES based on ITU-R