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Introduction of greenhouse effect

The greenhouse effect is when the temperature rises because the suns heat and light is trapped in

the earths atmosphere. This is like when heat is trapped in a car. On a very hot day, the car getshotter when it is out in the parking lot. This is because the heat and light from the sun can get

into the car, by going through the windows, but it cant get back out. This is what the

greenhouse effect does to the earth. The heat and light can get through the atmosphere, but it

cant get out. As a result, the temperature rises.

The suns heat can get into the car through the windows but is then trapped. This makes what

ever the place might be, a greenhouse, a car, a building, or the earths atmosphere, hotter. This

diagram shows the heat coming into a car as visible light and infrared light (heat). Once the light

is inside the car, it is trapped and the heat builds up, just like it does in the earths atmosphere.

Sometimes the temperature can change in a way that helps us. The greenhouse effect makes theearth appropriate for people to live on. Without it, the earth would be freezing, or on the other

hand it would be burning hot. It would be freezing at night because the sun would be down. We

would not get the suns heat and light to make the night somewhat warm. During the day,

especially during the summer, it would be burning because the sun would be up with no

atmosphere to filter it, so people, plants, and animals would be exposed to all the light and heat.

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Although the greenhouse effect makes the earth able to have people living on it, if there gets to

be too many gases, the earth can get unusually warmer, and many plants, animals, and people

will die. They would die because there would be less food (plants like corn, wheat, and other

vegetables and fruits). This would happen because the plants would not be able to take the heat.

This would cause us to have less food to eat, but it would also limit the food that animals have.

With less food, like grass, for the animals that we need to survive we would even have less food.

Gradually, people, plants, and animals would all die of hunger.

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Greenhouse gasses

Greenhouse gasses are gasses are in the earths atmosphere that collect heat and light from the

sun. With too many greenhouse gasses in the air, the earths atmosphere will trap too much heat

and the earth will get too hot. As a result people, animals, and plants would die because the heat

would be too strong.

The Biggest Danger

This effect moderated temperature on the Earth long before humans began changing the

chemistry of the atmosphere. Like a well managed greenhouse, the Earths surface remained

warm, but not too hot, and thus allowed the growth of the lush ecosystems we have inherited.

The increase in heat-trapping gases in the Earths atmosphere caused by human activity means

the greenhouse effect could, like a poorly managed greenhouse that is left closed up on a hot

summer day, overheat and do great damage to all the living creatures on the Earth.

The Main Causes: Human Emissions

The primary greenhouse gasesinclude:

carbon dioxide

methane

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nitrogen oxides, and

fluorinated gases

These make up only one percent or less of the Earths atmosphere, but they are almost entirely

responsible for all of its heat trapping capacity.

Greenhouse gas levels have increased dramatically since the start of the industrial revolution.

Based on scientific study of the Earths past, it is believed that the atmosphere of the Earth

contained about 280 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide before the industrial revolution

began, and about .72 ppm ofmethane. Now the Earths atmosphere has about 385 ppm of carbon

dioxide and about 1.8 ppm of methane.

Impacts of Different Greenhouse Gases

Carbon dioxide is the largest contributor to global warming, and occurs in relatively high

concentrations. On the other hand, methane occurs in low concentrations, but it has a much

higher heat-trapping capacity than carbon dioxide per unit volume. In fact, methane is 20 times

more potent per unit as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide measured on a 100 year scale, and

100 times more potent measured on a 10 year scale. (Methane breaks down relatively quickly in

the atmosphere to simpler molecules.)

Other trace gases, like nitrogen oxides, and other human-created fluorinated gases have heat

trapping capacities 200-300 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

Humans Are Enhancing the Effect

We have initiated a new geological age: the Anthropocene the age created by humans. We are

brining this new geological era into being by radically increasing the impact of the greenhouse

effect.

Carbon levels have increased in the atmosphere as a result of our burning large volumes of

fossil fuels that have been trapped underground for millions of years. We have cut down millions

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of acres of forest and every tree contains carbon, and as a tree is burned or decomposes, that

carbon is released into the atmosphere.

We have dangerously increased methane levels in the atmosphere as well. Methane leaks from

natural gas wells and coal mines. It is also created anytime organic matter decays under oxygen-

staved conditions. This occurs in rice paddies, and in the guts of herbivorous animals. As humans

have cleared forests to make farms and expanded the number of cows, sheep, and goats, we have

increased the amount of methane in the atmosphere. The arctic tundra is also now melting, and

releasing enormous volumes of methane and carbon dioxide.

We Are Creating New Greenhouse Gases

Humans are now synthesizing more artificial nitrogen, for use as fertilizer, than all of the natural

nitrogen fixing process of all of the plants on Earth. In nature, nitrogen is pulled from plants out

of the atmosphere in a process called nitrogen fixation. But when this artificial nitrogen is

applied to farmland, some of it is released into the atmosphere as nitrogen oxide, a powerful

greenhouse gas that is several hundred times more potent per unit volume than either carbon

dioxide or methane.

Another set of highly potent gases are fluorinated gases. These are accumulating in ouratmosphere. Fluorinated gases are a set of chemicals used as refrigerants, for insulation, and for

other industrial purposes.

Abrupt Climate Change Is Unpredictable

Dramatic weather changes arent gradual, according to a growing body of evidence. Rather, the

Earths climate maintains a specific range of temperature and weather behavior for extended

periods. Over time, pressure builds up from changes in the chemistry of the atmosphere, orchanges in solar radiation. Once enough pressure has built, then the Earth enters a period of

abrupt climate change.

Temperature increases will be extreme in some places and unnoticeable in others. The human

enhancement ofthe greenhouse effecton the planet Earth does not mean that there will be an

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even heating of the continents and oceans. The net effect, however, will be a potentially

devastating disruption of weather, rainfall patterns, storms, and sea level rise. If we do not stop

adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, we may face unfathomable consequences.

Global warming doing to the environment

Global warming is affecting many parts of the world. Global warming makes the sea rise, and

when the sea rises, the water covers many low land islands. This is a big problem for many of

the plants, animals, and people on islands. The water covers the plants and causes some of them

to die. When they die, the animals lose a source of food, along with their habitat. Although

animals have a better ability to adapt to what happens than plants do, they may die also. When

the plants and animals die, people lose two sources of food, plant food and animal food. They

may also lose their homes. As a result, they would also have to leave the area or die. This would

be called a break in the food chain, or a chain reaction, one thing happening that leads to another

and so on.

The oceans are affected by global warming in other ways, as well. Many things that are

happening to the ocean are linked to global warming. One thing that is happening is warm

water, caused from global warming, is harming and killing algae in the ocean.

Algae is a producer that you can see floating on the top of the water. (A producer is something

that makes food for other animals through photosynthesis, like grass.) This floating green algae

is food to many consumers in the ocean. (A consumer is something that eats the producers.)

One kind of a consumer is small fish. There are many others like crabs, some whales, and many

other animals. Fewer algae is a problem because there is less food for us and many animals in

the sea.

Global warming is doing many things to people as well as animals and plants. It is killing algae,

but it is also destroying many huge forests. The pollution that causes global warming is linked to

acid rain. Acid rain gradually destroys almost everything it touches. Global warming is also

causing many more fires that wipe out whole forests. This happens because global warming can

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make the earth very hot. In forests, some plants and trees leaves can be so dry that they catch on

fire.

Greenhouse Effect

Atmospheric scientists first used the term 'greenhouse effect' in the early 1800s. At that time, it

was used to describe the naturally occurring functions of trace gases in the atmosphere and did

not have any negative connotations. It was not until the mid-1950s that the term greenhouse

effect was coupled with concern over climate change. And in recent decades, we often hear

about the greenhouse effect in somewhat negative terms. The negative concerns are related to the

possible impacts of an enhanced greenhouse effect. This is covered in more detail in the Global

Climate Change section of this Web site. It is important to remember that without the greenhouse

effect, life on earth as we know it would not be possible.

While the earth's temperature is dependent upon the greenhouse-like action of the atmosphere,

the amount of heating and cooling are strongly influenced by several factors just as greenhouses

are affected by various factors.

In the atmospheric greenhouse effect, the type of surface that sunlight first encounters is the most

important factor. Forests, grasslands, ocean surfaces, ice caps, deserts, and cities all absorb,

reflect, and radiate radiation differently. Sunlight falling on a white glacier surface strongly

reflects back into space, resulting in minimal heating of the surface and lower atmosphere.

Sunlight falling on a dark desert soil is strongly absorbed, on the other hand, and contributes to

significant heating of the surface and lower atmosphere. Cloud cover also affects greenhouse

warming by both reducing the amount of solar radiation reaching the earth's surface and by

reducing the amount of radiation energy emitted into space.

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Scientists use the term albedo to define the percentage of solar energy reflected back by a

surface. Understanding local, regional, and global albedo effects is critical to predicting global

climate change.

When you do these things, you are causing more greenhouse gasses to be sent into the air.

Greenhouse gasses are sent into the air because creating the electricity you use to do these things

causes pollution. If you think of how many times a day you do these things, its a lot. You even

have to add in how many other people do these things! That turns out to be a lot of pollutants

going into the air a day because of people like us using electricity. The least amount of electricity

you use, the better.

When we throw our garbage away, the garbage goes to landfills. Landfills are those big hills thatyou go by on an expressway that stink. They are full of garbage. The garbage is then sometimes

burned. This sends an enormous amount of greenhouse gasses into the air and makes global

warming worse.

Another thing that makes global warming worse is when people cut down trees. Trees and other

plants collect carbon dioxide (CO2), which is a greenhouse gas.

Carbon dioxide is the air that our body lets out when we breathe. With fewer trees, it is harderfor people to breathe because there is more CO2 in the air, and we dont breathe CO2, we

breathe oxygen. Plants collect the CO2 that we breathe out, and they give back oxygen that we

breathe in. With less trees and other plants, such as algae, there is less air for us, and more

greenhouse gases are sent into the air. This means that it is very important to protect our trees to

stop the greenhouse effect, and also so we can breathe and live.

Basic mechanism

The Earth receives energy from the Sun in the form UV, visible, andnear IRradiation, most of

which passes through the atmosphere without being absorbed. Of the total amount of energy

available at the top of the atmosphere (TOA), about 50% is absorbed at the Earth's surface.

Because it is warm, the surface radiates far IR thermal radiation that consists of wavelengths that

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are predominantly much longer than the wavelengths that were absorbed. Most of this thermal

radiation is absorbed by the atmosphere and re-radiated both upwards and downwards; that

radiated downwards is absorbed by the Earth's surface. This trapping of long-wavelength thermal

radiation leads to a higher equilibrium temperature than if the atmosphere were absent.

This highly simplified picture of the basic mechanism needs to be qualified in a number of ways,

none of which affect the fundamental process.

The solar radiation spectrum for direct light at both the top of the Earth's atmosphere and at sea

level

The incoming radiation from the Sun is mostly in the form of visible light and nearby

wavelengths, largely in the range 0.24 m, corresponding to the Sun's radiative

temperature of 6,000 K. Almost half the radiation is in the form of "visible" light, which

our eyes are adapted to use.

About 50% of the Sun's energy is absorbed at the Earth's surface and the rest is reflected

or absorbed by the atmosphere. The reflection of light back into spacelargely by clouds

does not much affect the basic mechanism; this light, effectively, is lost to the system.

The absorbed energy warms the surface. Simple presentations of the greenhouse effect,

such as the idealized greenhouse model, show this heat being lost as thermal radiation.

The reality is more complex: the atmosphere near the surface is largely opaque to thermal

radiation (with important exceptions for "window" bands), and most heat loss from the

surface is by sensible heat and latent heat transport. Radiative energy losses become

increasingly important higher in the atmosphere largely because of the decreasing

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concentration of water vapor, an important greenhouse gas. It is more realistic to think of

the greenhouse effect as applying to a "surface" in the mid-troposphere, which is

effectively coupled to the surface by a lapse rate.

Within the region where radiative effects are important the description given by the

idealized greenhouse model becomes realistic: The surface of the Earth, warmed to a

temperature around 255 K, radiates long-wavelength, infrared heat in the range 4

100 m. At these wavelengths, greenhouse gases that were largely transparent to

incoming solar radiation are more absorbent. Each layer of atmosphere with greenhouses

gases absorbs some of the heat being radiated upwards from lower layers. To maintain its

own equilibrium, it re-radiates the absorbed heat in all directions, both upwards and

downwards. This results in more warmth below, while still radiating enough heat back

out into deep space from the upper layers to maintain overall thermal equilibrium.

Increasing the concentration of the gases increases the amount of absorption and re-

radiation, and thereby further warms the layers and ultimately the surface below.

Greenhouse gasesincluding most diatomic gases with two different atoms (such as

carbon monoxide, CO) and all gases with three or more atomsare able to absorb and

emit infrared radiation. Though more than 99% of the dry atmosphere is IR transparent

(because the main constituentsN2, O2, and Arare not able to directly absorb or emit

infrared radiation), intermolecular collisions cause the energy absorbed and emitted by

the greenhouse gases to be shared with the other, non-IR-active, gases.

The simple picture assumes equilibrium. In the real world there is the diurnal cycle as

well as seasonal cycles and weather. Solar heating only applies during daytime. During

the night, the atmosphere cools somewhat, but not greatly, because its emissivity is low,

and during the day the atmosphere warms. Diurnal temperature changes decrease with

height in the atmosphere.

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Role in climate change

Year

The Keeling Curve of atmospheric CO2 concentrations measured at Mauna Loa Observatory.

Strengthening of the greenhouse effect through human activities is known as the enhanced (or

anthropogenic) greenhouse effect. This increase in radiative forcing from human activity is

attributable mainly to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.

CO2 is produced by fossil fuel burning and other activities such as cement production and

tropical deforestation. Measurements of CO2 from the Mauna Loa observatory show that

concentrations have increased from about 313 ppm in 1960 to about 389 ppm in 2010. The

current observed amount of CO2 exceeds the geological record maxima (~300 ppm) from ice

core data. The effect of combustion-produced carbon dioxide on the global climate, a special

case of the greenhouse effect first described in 1896 by Svante Arrhenius, has also been called

the Callendar effect.

Because it is a greenhouse gas, elevated CO2 levels contribute to additional absorption and

emission of thermal infrared in the atmosphere, which produce net warming. According to the

latest Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, "most of the

observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely

due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations".

Over the past 800,000 years,[23] ice core data shows unambiguously that carbon dioxide has

varied from values as low as 180 parts per million (ppm) to the pre-industrial level of 270ppm.

Paleoclimatologists consider variations in carbon dioxide to be a fundamental factor in

controlling climate variations over this time scale.

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Real greenhouses

A modern Greenhouse in RHS Wisley

The "greenhouse effect" is named by analogy to greenhouses. The greenhouse effect and a real

greenhouse are similar in that they both limit the rate of thermal energy flowing out of thesystem, but the mechanisms by which heat is retained are different. [27] A greenhouse works

primarily by preventing absorbed heat from leaving the structure through convection, i.e.

sensible heat transport. The greenhouse effect heats the earth because greenhouse gases absorb

outgoing radiative energy and re-emit some of it back towards earth.

A greenhouse is built of any material that passes sunlight, usually glass, or plastic. It mainly

heats up because the Sun warms the ground inside, which then warms the air in the greenhouse.

The air continues to heat because it is confined within the greenhouse, unlike the environment

outside the greenhouse where warm air near the surface rises and mixes with cooler air aloft.

This can be demonstrated by opening a small window near the roof of a greenhouse: the

temperature will drop considerably. It has also been demonstrated experimentally (R. W. Wood,

1909) that a "greenhouse" with a cover of rock salt (which is transparent to infra red) heats up an

enclosure similarly to one with a glass cover. Thus greenhouses work primarily by preventing

convective cooling.

In the greenhouse effect, rather than retaining (sensible) heat by physically preventing movement

of the air, greenhouse gases act to warm the Earth by re-radiating some of the energy back

towards the surface. This process may exist in real greenhouses, but is comparatively

unimportant there.

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Bodies other than Earth

In our solar system, Mars, Venus, and the moon Titan also exhibit greenhouse effects.[29] Titan

has an anti-greenhouse effect, in that its atmosphere absorbs solar radiation but is relativelytransparent to infrared radiation. Pluto also exhibits behavior superficially similar to the anti-

greenhouse effect.[30][31]

A runaway greenhouse effect occurs ifpositive feedbacks lead to the evaporation of all

greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.[32] A runaway greenhouse effect involving carbon dioxide

and water vapor is thought to have occurred on Venus.[33]

The government doing to stop global warming

The government is doing many things to help stop global warming. The government made a law

called The Clean Air Act so there is less air pollution. Global warming is making people get

very bad illnesses that could make them disabled, very sick, and sometimes even die. The Clean

Air Act is making many companies change their products to decrease these problems. Part of the

law says that you may not put a certain amount of pollutants in the air. Hairspray and some other

products, like foam cups, had this problem. Making and using these products let out too much

volatile organic compounds (VOCs), ozone-destroying chemicals (chlorofluorocarbons

(CFCs), and related chemicals (such as CO2) into the air. Now, almost all of these products

have a label on them telling people what this product can do to the environment and many

people. By 2015 all products listed

on the Clean Air Act will have this label on them:

Almost all of the other chemicals that could be harmful will have this label on them hopefully by

this time (2015) as well.

The Clean Air Act has also made car companies change some of the things inside of the cars.

Cars pollute a lot. While cars make more than half of the worlds smog (visible pollution in the

air), many things that cars need to move and heat up make even more pollution. Some things

that are inside of cars, buses, trucks, and motorcycles, like gasoline, pollute the air when the fuel

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is burned. It comes out as a chemical and when mixed in the air, forms smog. Smog is a kind of

pollution that you see in the form of a cloud. If you have ever been to California you can see a

lot of smog in some places. Sometimes the smog gets so bad that you cannot see at all! Smog

forms when car exhaust, pollution from homes, and pollution from factories mixes in the air and

has a chemical reaction. The suns heat and light add to the reaction.

Cars, buses, and trucks are also responsible for over 50% of dangerous chemicals let into the air.

Some of these chemicals can cause cancer, birth defects, trouble breathing, brain and nerve

damage, lung injures, and burning eyes. Some of the pollutants are so harmful that they can even

cause death.

The other dangerous chemical

Some other chemicals that cause air pollution and are bad for the environment and people are:

Ozone- Ozone is produced when other pollution chemicals combine. It is the basic element of

smog. It causes many different kinds of health issues dealing with the lungs. It can

damage plants and limit sight. It can also cause a lot of property damage.

VOCs (volatile organic compounds, smog formers)- VOCs are let into the air when fuel is

burned. This chemical can cause cancer. It can also harm plants.

NOx (nitrogen dioxide)- This chemical forms smog. It is also formed by burning sources of

energy, like gas, coal, and oil, and by cars. This chemical causes problems in the

respiratory system (including the lungs). It causes acid rain, and it can damage trees. This

chemical can eat away buildings and statues.

CO (carbon monoxide)- The source of this chemical is burning sources of energy. It causes

blood vessel problems and respiratory failures.

PM-10 (particulate matter)- The source of this chemical is plowing and burning down fields.

It can cause death and lung damage. It can make it hard for people to breathe. The smoke,

soot, ash, and dust formed by this chemical can make many cities dirty.

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Sulfur Dioxide- This chemical is produced by making paper and metals. This chemical can

cause permanent lung damage. It can cause acid rain which kills trees and damages

building and statues.

Kid can help stop global warming, too!!

Although adults do many things to help stop global warming, kids can do just as much. Kids

cant do hard things like making a law, but we can do easier things like not watching as much

TV. You can listen to your parents when they say, turn off your lights or go play outside.

Listening to them and actually trying to help can help you, your environment, and the world.

Solution to Stop GlobalWarming

By investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency, and increasing the efficiency of the cars

we drive, we can take essential steps toward reducing our dependence on oil and other fossil

fuels that cause global warming. There are lotof companies dedicated to building engines and

inventions that could save us from the effects of global warming.

Using energy more efficiently and moving to renewable energy (wind, solar, geothermal, and

bioenergy) would significantly reduce our emissions of heat-trapping gases. The United States

currently produces 70 percent of its electricity from fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas, and oil,

but only two percent from renewable sources.

By creating new "free energy" sources like wind power or electric cars. We can slow down the

effects of global warming. What we really need is a new engine for cars that would take no

gasoline whatsoever or any other type of fuel that creates carbon dioxide. Many inventors in the

past have created free energy machines, many of those were lost with time.

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-Another way to stop global warming is to plant more trees. We have cut down way too many

trees in the past, and we are still doing it. Much of the tropical rainforest has been cut down,

rainforests create a lot of oxygen for us to breathe. By cutting them down we lower our level of

oxygen in the air.

-Many people are already planting more trees, but we need much more people getting into it

around the world. The best solution to global warming is to plant more trees (a lot more) and we

need to replace our current destructive technologies with more efficient technologies that don't

pollute the air we breathe.

"Climate change is really happening," says Cicerone.

Asked what is causing the changes, Cicernone says it's greenhouse gases: "Carbon dioxide and

methane, and chlorofluorocarbons and a couple of others, which are all the increases in their

concentrations in the air are due to human activities. It's that simple."

But if it is that simple, why do some climate science reports look like they have been heavily

edited at the White House? With science labeled "not sufficiently reliable." Its a tone of

scientific uncertainty the president set in his first months in office after he pulled out of a global

treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

DOES THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT EVEN EXIST?The greenhouse warming of the Earth's

surface is believed by some people to be physically impossible. They claim it would violate the

2nd Law of Thermodynamics, which basically states that energy must flow from where there is

more to where there is less.

The reason for this apparent violation is that the existence of greenhouse gases in the COLDER

layers of the atmosphere make the surface WARMER, which would suggest energy flow from

colder to warmer, which would seem to violate the 2nd Law. But the greenhouse effect is kind of

like adding a lid to cover a pot of water on the stove...even though the lid is colder than the

water, its presence actually makes the water warmer.

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Greenhouse Effect

It's the TOTAL (net) flow of energy which must be from warmer to colder, which is indeed the

case in both the greenhouse effect, and adding a lid to the pot of water on the stove.

Here is a graph showing the data on Temperature in the United States for 2006, notice that

in most states the temperatures were "much above normal".

Conclusion

The greenhouse affect is a natural process where the atmosphere traps some of the sun's energy,

warming the Earth enough to support life. Although the greenhouse effect is a nature cycle,

humans have greatly increased the concentrations of greenhouse gases, thus causing a significant

increase in the overall greenhouse effect. A number of gases are involved in the human caused

enhancement of the greenhouse effect. These gases include: carbon dioxide (CO2); methane

(CH4); nitrous oxide (N20); CFC's and ozone (03) Out of all these gases the most important is

carbon dioxide which accounts for around 55% of the change in the intensity of the Earth's

greenhouse effect. The consequence of the greenhouse effect is that there will a rise in the sea

levels around the world, there will be dramatic climate changes, and agriculture will suffer from

the fluxes of the weather. However, it's not too late to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions,

some effective ways to reduce emissions it to: use cleaner fuels, use energy efficient machines,

develop alternative sources for energy and to plant more trees.

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References

Environment Global Warming and Greenhouse Effect. World Almanac 2000. Mahwah:

World Almanac Books, 2000.

EPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency). Global Warming Kids Site.

http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/kids. Last visited: December 2001.

National Geographic. Is Bleaching Corals Way of Making the Best of a Bad Situation?

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/07/

0725_coralbleaching.html. Last visited: December 2001.

Power Scorecard. Electricity and the Environment. http://powerscorecard.org/elec_env.cfm.

Last visited: January 2002.

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EPA. The Plain English Guide To The Clean Air Act.

http://www.epa.gov/oar/oaqps/peg_caa/pegcaain.html. Last visited: January 2002.

Sun. World Book Encyclopedia, 1978.

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