* Water vapor (H2O): The most abundant greenhouse gas, responsible for about 60% of the greenhouse effect.
* Carbon dioxide (CO2): The second most abundant greenhouse gas. Human activities are the primary source of increased CO2 in the atmosphere.
* Methane (CH4): A potent greenhouse gas, about 25 times more effective at trapping heat than CO2 over a 100-year period.
* Nitrous oxide (N2O): A powerful greenhouse gas with a very long atmospheric lifetime.
* Ozone (O3): While ozone in the stratosphere protects us from harmful UV radiation, it's a greenhouse gas when found in the troposphere, the lowest layer of the atmosphere.
These gases trap heat by absorbing infrared radiation emitted by the Earth's surface. This process helps regulate the Earth's temperature, but increased concentrations of greenhouse gases due to human activities are contributing to global warming.
