. The atmospheric lifetime is important because it helps to determine if a potential greenhouse gas is
really important. If there are efficient environmental removal mechanisms for a greenhouse gas (that is
if it has a short atmospheric lifetime) the gas will accumulate in the atmosphere more slowly than
predicted by the rate at which it is emitted. If a greenhouse has had a long atmospheric lifetime, then
even though not a lot of it is emitted from various sources, the atmospheric concentration of the gas
will continually increase, allowing the gas to contribute more to global warming than would be
expected