Radiative forcing and global warming potential of perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride

Abstract

We developed two radiation parameterizations with different resolutions (17-band and 998-band) for perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) using the updated High-resolution Transmission Molecular Absorption (HITRAN) 2004 database and the correlated k-distribution method. We analyzed the impacts of the two radiation schemes on heating rates. Then we studied their instantaneous radiative efficiency, stratospheric adjusted radiative efficiency, global warming potential (GWP), and global temperature potential (GTP), for both clear- and all-sky conditions using a high-resolution radiation scheme. We found that the stratosphere-adjusted radiative efficiencies of C2F6, CF4, and SF6 for the whole sky were 0.346, 0.098, and 0.680 W m−2 ppbv−1, respectively. Radiative forcing from the industrial revolution to 2005 was 0.001, 0.007, and 0.004 W m−2, respectively; and was predicted to rise to 0.008, 0.036, and 0.037 W m−2, respectively, by 2100, according to emission scenarios provided by the IPCC. The GWPs of C2F6, CF4, and SF6 are 17035, 7597, and 31298, respectively, for a time horizon of 100 years relative to CO2. Their GTPs of pulse and sustained emissions, GTPP and GTPS, are 22468, 10052, and 40935 and 16498, 7355, and 30341, respectively, for a 100-year time horizon.