Essay about Climate Change and Greenhouse Gases

The major greenhouse gas is water vapor. Then there is carbon dioxide, plus a few trace gases (Easterling & Karl, 2011, para4). Carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere by natural processes and by human actions such as burning fossil fuels. Methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases are all emitted into the atmosphere by human activities (U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2010, Greenhouse Gas Overview section).

The greenhouse effect is when the heat from a planet's air warms the planet's surface to a temperature above what it normally would be without its air. What causes the greenhouse effect is that energy comes from the sun and reflects off of the earth’s surface and then goes back to the atmosphere as a bunch of heat. It affects the Earth by making the atmosphere warm.

A greenhouse gas is a gas in the atmosphere that absorbs radiation emitted by the Earth’s surface. There are several greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), water vapor (H2O) and nitrous oxide (N2O). These gases trap heat and warm the surface and atmosphere of the Earth. When the atmosphere has increase amounts of greenhouse gases, it traps more and more heat (EPA, 2015).

Greenhouse emissions are made up of all types of gasses such as methane, nitrous oxide, and the leading emission: Carbon dioxide (N/A). “The standard ways of living has increased, as energy supply is the leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions. Transportation also deals with a large amount of greenhouse emissions being released into our solar system. Starting in 1950, greenhouse gasses started to increase dramatically. This

The greenhouse effect refers to radiation from the sun as it warms the earth. This is caused by the presence of several greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide being one of them. Carbon dioxide is formed when carbon compounds undergo oxidation reactions. Carbon dioxide helps confine heat in the earth’s atmosphere as it reflects from the sun to the earth, and thus contributes to the

a) Greenhouse effect is the direct natural result of Sun powering climate on the Earth. Sun’s radiation is passing through the Earth’s atmosphere which in turn causing the Earth’s surface to warm up. As an estimation, about 30% of the solar energy is bouncing back to the space as a results of the Earth’s atmosphere. The other 70% of solar energy is attracted by the Earth’s surface and atmosphere. In order to create a balance, Earth has to reflect this extra amount of energy back to space but, part of this reflection is absorbs by Earth’s atmosphere and will be sent back to Earth. This process is warming up the Earth’s surface and prevents the temperature on the Earth’s surface to drop below zero Celsius degrees. This is called natural Greenhouse effect but, due to various human activities such as deforestations and fuel burning and other factors have exacerbate this natural process of Greenhouse effect in which created the global warming [1]. The primary greenhouse gases are water vapor (H2O): from the water on the Earth’s surface. Carbon Dioxide (CO2): its increase in the atmosphere is due to the fuel burning process. Methane (CH4): its increase in the atmosphere is due to several reasons such as melting permafrost, landfills generate CH4, and when ocean temperature rises causes release of Methane. Nitrous Oxide (N2O): agriculture and soil cultivating cause increase in the amount of N2O in the atmosphere. Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC): released to the earth’s atmosphere

Some of the major greenhouse gases excluding water vapor are: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and chlorofluorocarbons. Of these, CO2 is the most important because of the vast amount released by human activity. Before the Industrial Revolution, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide was 280 ppm; it has now risen to a level of 360 ppm today with an annual increase of 2 ppm (Rising Carbon, 1992).

Nowadays human activities like driving cars, burning coal and cutting down forests and farming produce greenhouse gases. The greenhouse gases are mainly carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane. These gases gather in the atmosphere and attract heat from the sun.

The greenhouse effect is a natural process that works to maintain the warmth radiating onto the Earth’s surface. It was first discovered by Joseph Fourier in 1842, and was later expanded on by John Tyndall in 1858 and Svante Arrhenius in 1896 (Princeton.edu, 2014). When the sun’s energy reaches our atmosphere, greenhouse gasses absorb some of it and some is reflected back into space. Greenhouse gasses include nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, water vapour, ozone and some artificial chemical such as chlorofluorocarbons (Climatechange.gov.au, 2014). The energy that is absorbed by the greenhouse gasses is re-radiated across the Earth, warming the lower levels of the atmosphere and its surface (Bom.gov.au, 2014). The greenhouse effect maintains

When people drive cars, use energy to cook, cool and heat their houses, power plants, etc. all those things put gasses in the air. Gasses that trap heat in the atmosphere are called greenhouse gases. Each of the gases is carbon dioxide, methane, fluorinated gases, and nitrous oxide. Carbon dioxide is a chemical that is transparent to solar radiation and yet it absorbs infrared radiation. Carbon dioxide enters the air through burning fossil fuels, trees, solid waste and wood products. Carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere longer than other gasses as the result of human activities. The US produces the most carbon with 5,800 million every year, next is China over 3,000, Russia over 2,000, Japan, 1,200 and India, 1,000 million. Methane enters through the transportation of coal, oil and natural gas. It takes a decade for methane to leave the atmosphere which converts into carbon dioxide. Fluorinated gases are used as substitutes for stratospheric substances. Lastly, Nitrous oxide is released during industrial

There are many gases that are considered greenhouse gases. Gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect include water vapor, which is considered one of the most abundant gases. (“A blanket around the Earth “) Methane, which has to be one of the most powerful ones, but is less frequent in the atmosphere. (“A blanket around the Earth “) Nitrous oxide, which is found in most soils. Carbon dioxide better known as (CO2) is made by natural process but is frequently known as one of the largest impactors of climate change. (“A blanket around the Earth “) NASA says that “carbon dioxide is released through natural processes such as respiration and volcano eruptions and through human activities such as deforestation, land use changes, and burning fossil fuels.” (‘A blanket around the Earth’)

Greenhouse gases are a main reason for climate change, but many people have a vague idea of how they work and what they do to contribute to the Earth’s rising temperature. Marc Lallanilla of Live Science writes in the article Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Causes and Sources of how the

The greenhouse effect happens when greenhouse gases collect in the earth’s atmosphere. These gases included carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, fluorinated gases, and ozone. Greenhouse gases let the sun’s light shine onto the Earth’s surface but trap the heat that reflects back up into the atmosphere. In this way, they act like the glass walls of a greenhouse. This greenhouse effect keeps the

The most significant greenhouse gas is water vapor, which plays an important role in regulating climate. The changes in water vapor from human activities such as irrigation and deforestation can affect temperatures on the Earth’s surface (source). The second, is carbon dioxide, which is one of the main reasons for global warming. An increase in carbon emission causes the planet to warm by intensifying the IR energy influx in greenhouse effect (source). Also, carbon dioxide emission comes from deforestation and burning of fossil fuels. The third, is ozone for where life exists on our planet. It absorbs the higher-energy emitted from the Sun before reaching the Earth’s surface (source). However, the ozone in normally seen as smog can cause health problems for humans,

“Certain gases in the atmosphere block heat from escaping. Long-lived gases that remain semi-permanently in the atmosphere and do not respond physically or chemically to changes in temperature are described as "forcing" climate change. Gases, such as water vapor, which respond physically or chemically to changes in temperature are seen as ‘feedbacks’” (Global).