A ranking of the absorptive capacity of the principal greenhouse gases expressed as the atmospheric warming effect of each compared with that of carbon dioxide, which is given a value of 1. The values take account of the wavelengths at which each gas absorbs radiation and its atmospheric residence time, and values are given over a specified number of years. On this scale, the GWP of methane is 56 (20 years), 21 (100 years), and 6.5 (500 years), nitrous oxide is 280 (20 years), 310 (100 years), and 170 (500 years), HFC-23 is 9100 (20 years), 11 700 (100 years), and 9800 (500 years), and sulphur hexafluoride is 16 300 (20 years), 23 900 (100 years), and 34 900 (500 years).