Understanding the greenhouse effect is the first step to understanding how climate change is affecting our planet. So lets Solar radiation interacts with the surface of the Earth in several forms: a portion of incoming solar energy is reflected back into space by the Earth’s atmosphere; another portion is dispersed and scattered by molecules in the atmosphere, and a large portion penetrates through Earth’s atmosphere to reach the planet’s surface. The radiation reaching Earth’s surface is largely absorbed, resulting in surface warming.
Much of this absorbed energy is later emitted back from the Earth as heat, and as it leaves the Earth, it again interacts with the atmosphere. Some of this energy also escapes back into space, but much of it is reflected back to the Earth’s surface yet again, by the molecules in the Earth’s atmosphere. These molecules also absorb some of the heat, and this occurrence is similar to the warming that occurs in an automobile parked outside on a sunny day. The contained atmosphere in the vehicle heats up much more than the environment outside the vehicle.
Greenhouse gases act like a blanket around the planet, keeping the heat in. Increasing the concentration of these gases in the atmosphere increases the thickness of this insulator, thereby increasing the atmosphere’s ability to block the escape of heat. Too great a concentration of greenhouse gases can have dramatic effects on climate, and significant repercussions for Earth. Too low a concentration can have equally dramatic effects. Climates suitable for human existence are limited above a minimum threshold level of greenhouse gas concentration—one that makes life as we know it possible.
Much of this absorbed energy is later emitted back from the Earth as heat, and as it leaves the Earth, it again interacts with the atmosphere. Some of this energy also escapes back into space, but much of it is reflected back to the Earth’s surface yet again, by the molecules in the Earth’s atmosphere. These molecules also absorb some of the heat, and this occurrence is similar to the warming that occurs in an automobile parked outside on a sunny day. The contained atmosphere in the vehicle heats up much more than the environment outside the vehicle.
Greenhouse gases act like a blanket around the planet, keeping the heat in. Increasing the concentration of these gases in the atmosphere increases the thickness of this insulator, thereby increasing the atmosphere’s ability to block the escape of heat. Too great a concentration of greenhouse gases can have dramatic effects on climate, and significant repercussions for Earth. Too low a concentration can have equally dramatic effects. Climates suitable for human existence are limited above a minimum threshold level of greenhouse gas concentration—one that makes life as we know it possible.
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Sources various sites on the great Google baba.
Sources various sites on the great Google baba.
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