Greenhouse Effect

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 gets hotter 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. cant get out. As a result, the temperature rises. This is what the greenhouse effect does to the earth. The heat and light can get through the atmosphere, but it

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 the earth 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. Page 1

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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 gases include:

carbon dioxide methane Page 3

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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 of methane. 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 oxygenstaved 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 our atmosphere. 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, or changes 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 of the greenhouse effect on the planet Earth does not mean that there will be an Page 5

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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 that you 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 harder for 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, and near IR radiation, 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 Page 8

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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 Page 9

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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 reradiation, 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. Page 11

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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 the system, 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 relatively transparent to infrared radiation. Pluto also exhibits behavior superficially similar to the antigreenhouse effect.[30][31] A runaway greenhouse effect occurs if positive 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 Page 13

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

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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 Global Warming 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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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 Books, 2000. EPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency). Global Warming Kids Site. World Almanac 2000. Mahwah:

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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