Radiative forcing and global warming potentials of 11 halogenated compounds

Highwood, E.J. and Shine, K. P. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2672-9978 (2000) Radiative forcing and global warming potentials of 11 halogenated compounds. Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy & Radiative Transfer, 66 (2). pp. 169-183. ISSN 0022-4073 doi: 10.1016/S0022-4073(99)00215-0

Abstract/Summary

Radiative forcing values have been calculated for 11 halogenated compounds which are in current use or which have been suggested as possible replacements for the chlorofluorocarbons. Absorption cross-sections measured over a range of atmospheric temperature and pressure conditions as part of a multi-laboratory programme have been used together with a narrow band radiative transfer model. We provide a “best estimate” radiative forcing taking into account the likely vertical profile of the gas in each case. The Global Warming Potential over a variety of time horizons has also been calculated where the lifetime is available. We present the first such information for 1,2-dichloroethane. For chloroform our radiative forcing is 5 times higher than the value used in previous assessments, possibly because these ignored the effect of absorption outside the 800–1200 cm−1 “window”. For several of the other compounds considered here, our forcing is between 10 and 30% lower than previous assessments. The perfluorocarbons have been found to have large global warming potentials, many times that of CFC-11, due to both strong absorption and long lifetimes. The importance of absorption features at wavenumbers below 800 cm−1 and the effect of temperature variations in absorption cross-section on the radiative forcing are also investigated.