Global Warming and the Greenhouse Effect Essays

It is largely known that the most significant issue facing the planet today is global warming. There is no doubt it is one of the biggest environmental issues throughout time, though it is widely debated among scientists and environmentalists what the main causes are. Global warming isn’t a new issue, in only 1989 the UK Prime Minister at the time warns that the increasing emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere are going to have a significant impact on the earth in the future (BBC News, 2013). The warming of the earth is caused by greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide that trap long-wave radiation in the atmosphere. This warming of the earth surface is referred to as the greenhouse effect. Greenhouse gases are the gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapour which accumulate in the atmospheric layers prevent heat being radiated from the earth to escape. Without greenhouse gases the earth would be considerably cooler but with increased human activities, temperatures are rising to an unstable level (Arbogast, 2011).

Greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide and methane, absorb energy radiated by the Earth and then send it back into our atmosphere as heat. This is called the greenhouse effect. During the last

· When the sun’s energy reaches the earth, some of that energy is absorbed and some is radiated back, energy balance. Greenhouse Gases absorb the energy that is radiated back into space, intern warming the atmosphere.

“The Greenhouse Effect” or “Greenhouse gases” have become somewhat of scary concepts in relation to climate change. In fact, without the Greenhouse effect, the average temperature of the Earth would be 5F rather than the current average at 59F. Greenhouse gases are composed mostly of water vapor, but also carbon dioxide, methane, and certain types of clouds. These gases lie in the troposphere of the atmosphere and allows the shortwave radiation of the sun to pass through the atmosphere and warm the Earth’s surface as energy is absorbed, while the longwave radiation is delayed from being transmitted back into space through greenhouse gases. The waves are absorbed by greenhouse gases and bounced back to the Earth’s surface, conserving

The second main “driver” of global temperature change is reflectivity. Changes in reflectivity affect how much energy enter Earth’s system. When the sunlight reaches Earth, it can be reflected or absorbed, and that depends on the Earth’s surface and atmosphere; light colors reflect the most sunlight, while dark colors absorb more sunlight. Albedo, the amount of solar radiation reflected from an object or surface, indicates the amount of sunlight reflected as a percentage. Earth has an albedo of about 30%, which means that 70% of the sunlight is absorbed (NRC, 2010). This is important because the sunlight absorbed warms the land, water and atmosphere. In the past, this can be seen in the melting of sea ice or increases in cloud cover.

One of the main reasons that earth’s temperatures are rising are due to greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases are created when humans burn fossil fuels such as coals, natural gases, and oils to produce heat or electricity. These gases are then capable of trapping infrared radiation sent by the sun. Once these

The primary cause of climate change is the human expansion of the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is a natural occurrence, which NASA defines as “the warming that results when the atmosphere traps heat radiating from space” (NASA). During the greenhouse effect, heat from the sun passes through the atmosphere, which is made up of various gases. When the heat from the sun reaches the surface, some of it radiates away from Earth, back into space. However, some of the gases in the atmosphere, known as greenhouse gases, absorb this heat, preventing it from escaping (World Meteorological Organization). The greenhouse effect keeps the Earth at a habitable temperature. The World Meteorological Organization, or WMO, states that the greenhouse effect and

Energy from the sun drives the earth’’s weather and climate, and heats the earth’’s surface; in turn, the earth radiates energy back into space. Atmospheric greenhouse gases (water vapor, carbon dioxide, and other gases) trap some of the

The greenhouse effect is the warming of our atmosphere that happens when gases get trapped and then stop heat from leaving but still letting in light, like your car on a hot day. In 1824 Joseph Fourier

What is the Greenhouse effect? It is warming close to the earth’s surface that happens when the earth’s

The greenhouse effect is the rise in temperature that the Earth experiences because certain gasses in the atmosphere (water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane, for example) trap energy from the sun. Without these gasses, heat would escape back into space and Earth’s average temperature would be about 60° Fahrenheit colder, and our current way of life would be impossible, as well as for plants and animals. (source). Since the industrial revolution began over 150 years ago, the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has risen by 25 percent (source). This is gradually cumulative to our planet as more automobiles and machinery are being produced will result in global warming.

Introduction: The greenhouse effect is a natural warming process of the earth. The theory is that when the sun's energy reaches the earth, some of it is reflected back to space while the rest is absorbed. The absorbed energy warms the earth's surface which then emits heat energy back toward space in the form of long wave radiation. This outgoing radiation is partially trapped by greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and water vapor which then radiate the energy in all directions, warming the earth's surface and atmosphere.

Global warming is a product of green house effect. Question is, what is greenhouse effect? In common word, the interaction between Earth’s atmosphere and incoming radiation from is greenhouse effect. This greenhouse effect concept was first introduced by Svante Arrhenius in 1896.

The greenhouse effect is what allows life on Earth and the atmosphere contains trace gases which are designed to retain heat. The gases that are present in the atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, and nitrous oxide. These gases act as a global insulator and help control the Earth’s atmosphere. It all begins with sunlight which is a form of energy that is mostly absorbed by land, oceans, and a portion of the sunlight is reflected back to the atmosphere. Once the earth warms up, it then gives off energy in a different form which is called infrared radiation or electromagnetic radiation. The planet need some of the greenhouse gases because without them the

Greenhouse gases are compounds in the atmosphere that can trap and hold extra heat, which increases the temperature in the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases is the cause of the greenhouse effect that leads up to global warming. The greenhouse effect is the trapping of the sun’s warmth in the lower atmosphere that is due to the visible radiation from the sun. The solar radiation reaches the Earth’s atmosphere, then the rest of the sun's energy is absorbed by the oceans and lands which result in the heating of the Earth. After that the heat from the Earth goes towards space, some of the heat is trapped in the atmosphere by greenhouses gases which make the Earth warm enough to tolerate living life. The burning of fossil fuels and land clearing start to increase the number of greenhouse gases which travels into the atmosphere. The result of trapping extra heat cause the Earth’s temperature to rise. Scientist's has proven that the constant increase of heat in the atmosphere is caused by humans. The reason humans are proven guilty for the increase of global warming is because of the amount of carbon that is put into the atmosphere. Carbon is released from burning coal, oil, and gas or cutting down and burning forests. Carbon (CO2) is known as the main source of heat-trapping gas which is mainly responsible for the increase of warming over the years. The removal of trees is another cause of global