What is the Greenhouse Effect?
The greenhouse effect has been described, by the US Vice President Al Gore, as the potentially most dangerous environmental problem facing mankind, with consequences second only to nuclear war. The greenhouse effect can be visualized as follows: Imagine that Earth has been encircled by a giant glass sphere. The heat of the sun penetrates through the glass. Some of the heat is absorbed by the Earth, and some of it is radiated back towards space. The radiated heat reaches the glass sphere and is prevented from dispersing any further. Similarly, the earth is surrounded by a blanket of gases. This blanket traps energy in the atmosphere, much the same way as glass traps heat inside a greenhouse. This results in an accumulation of energy, and the overall warming of the atmosphere. The ‘greenhouse effect’ is the popular expression for the above process. Global warming and climate change result from the greenhouse effect.
Some gases such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, play an important role in the energy balance of the Earth. They act like the glass roofs and walls in a greenhouse and trap heat within the Earths atmosphere. Without these gases, the surface temperature of the Earth would be about 35 degrees Celsius lower. This process is called the greenhouse effect and the gases involved are called greenhouse gases.
Some gases such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, play an important role in the energy balance of the Earth. Without these gases, the surface temperature of the Earth would be about 35 degrees Celsius lower. This process is called the greenhouse effect and the gases involved are called greenhouse gases.
The greenhouse effect is an elevation in the surface temperature that occurs when certain heat-absorbing “greenhouse gases,” particularly CO2 and water vapor, are present in the atmosphere. It is a natural phenomenon — the Earth has had a greenhouse effect for billions of years. Without it, the oceans would be totally frozen and life would not exist on Earth!
The greenhouse effect is the rise in temperature that the Earth experiences because certain naturally occurring gases and gases emitted as a result of human activities into the atmosphere such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane trap energy from the sun. Because these gasses warm the Earth, theyre referred to as greenhouse gases.
