What does GWP measure?

• A. Gas Wavelength Parameter
• B. Global Warming Potential, indicating heat-trapping effect relative to CO2 over a specific time
• C. Gasoline Weight Potential
• D. Global Water Pollution rating

Answer: (B)

GWP measures how much heat a greenhouse gas traps in the atmosphere relative to carbon dioxide over a specific time horizon. It combines how strongly the gas absorbs infrared heat (radiative efficiency) with how long it stays in the atmosphere (lifetime). A gas with higher radiative efficiency and/or a longer lifetime will have a higher GWP, so one unit of that gas won’t warm the planet as much as CO2 per unit mass, or will warm it more, depending on its value, when emissions are expressed as CO2-equivalents. The time horizon chosen matters because different gases persist for different periods, with 100 years being a common standard for comparisons. This is why GWP is used to compare the warming impact of different gases, not related concepts like wavelength, gasoline weight, or water pollution ratings.