Global Warming by Greenhouse Effect

Posted on June 26, 2007 in Global Warming Causes

The phenomenon of global warming can be best defined as the steady and documented rise in the Earth’s average surface temperature over the last century. Scientists are unanimous in their belief that this development is largely due to the increased buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Description of the green house effect
The term, greenhouse effect, is concerned with the increase in temperature that the Earth experiences because certain gases in the atmosphere (water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane, to name a few) trap energy from the sun. The heat that would have escaped back into space and resulted in lowering the Earth’s average temperature to roughly around 60ºF colder than now, gets trapped in these gases emitted.

To simplify the explanation, one could relate the effect to an actual greenhouse, which is used for growing plants. The panels are made of glass and let in light but keep the heat from escaping, causing the greenhouse to get hot which keeps the plants sufficiently warm to survive the cold winters.

Global warming causes by greenhouse effect: GHG responsible
Greenhouse gases (GHG’s) are ever present in the atmosphere and are akin to glass panes in a greenhouse, in the part they play in trapping sunlight and heat. When sunlight enters the Earth’s atmosphere, it passes through a blanket of greenhouse gases and upon reaching the Earth’s surface, land, water and biosphere absorb the sunlight’s energy. This absorbed energy is reflected back the atmosphere where some passes back into space, but much remains trapped in the atmosphere by the greenhouse gases causing global warming.

Importance of greenhouse effect on global warming
The greenhouse effect is important up to a certain degree as without it the Earth would not be warm enough for human survival, but in the event of increased global warming causes by greenhouse effect, it may lead to severe problems for humans, plants and animals. A hot topic for debate, global warming means big changes for planet and the greenhouse effect, with GHG’s gathering above the earth, are posing a threat to the world environment. The biggest fear is that global warming due to the greenhouse effect is occurring at such a rapid pace that an onslaught of natural disasters such as droughts, hurricanes, floods, changes in sea levels and islands and inhabitants disappearing could spell doom for the Earth, if not checked in time.

The need for global warming and causes by greenhouse effect
Having an atmosphere is important but the greenhouse effect may be making it excessively thick. The levels of gases casing the Earth has risen with industrialization with growing countries now producing about 75% of greenhouse gases; commonest being carbon dioxide, accounting for about 50% of all greenhouse gases. Methane, CFCs, nitrogen oxides and ozone also contribute to forming the greenhouse layer but they are produced by so many important and common processes that limiting their production to prevent global warming could be very difficult.

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