The Global Climate Change Debate- how do I know what to believe?
Earth and Space 3.2
Troy Cornish
Over the past 150 years there has been undeniable evidence that suggest the Earth is warming at a significant rate. Scientist who have done extensive research on Global warming as it as known have concluded that the major cause is the ‘Greenhouse Effect’. The Sun emits light waves and energy that pass through our atmosphere, this is absorbed by the surface and turned into heat energy, which then radiates off and is emitted back into the direction of space. Not all of the particles are able to make it out of the atmosphere due to gas molecules clogging up the air. This is warms the Earth very similar to the way a greenhouse would; the atmosphere being the glass of the house and the Earth being the vegetation inside the house.
Diagram of how the greenhouse effect works.¹
Five gas molecules that attribute to the Greenhouse Effect are: Water Vapour (H2O), Nitrous Oxide (N2O), Methane (CH4), Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Carbon Dioxide is the most significant of these gases. This is because it is the most common of all the gases and acts as a very effective blanket to keep heat trapped in the Earth’s Atmosphere. Nitrous Oxide and Methane act in similar ways, but to a lesser extent since they aren’t produced as much. Water Vapour is also abundant like Carbon Dioxide, and it increases as the Earth’s temperature does due to the process of evaporation. This
There are quite a few gases that are responsible for the warming of the earth’s climate. The list mostly includes gases like water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and ozone (Cause and Effect…). The way water vapor affects the climate is by keeping the air moist. When the air is moist it keeps the heat from escaping out to space, forcing the heat to stay in our atmosphere.
The greenhouse effect on earth results from a higher concentration of carbon dioxide, water vapor and methane in the atmosphere.
Gases such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane all “have the ability to absorb thermal energy (heat) emitted by the earth and thus are able to warm the atmosphere” (“Greenhouse Gases”). This warming is known as the “greenhouse effect.” The majority of greenhouse gases are a result of humans burning fossil fuels to create energy. With more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the Earth’s climate is becoming warmer, leading to threatening consequences for the planet’s population.
Carbon dioxide (chemical formula CO2) is a colourless and odourless gas vital to life on Earth. This naturally occurring chemical compound is composed of a carbon atom covalently double bonded (linear) to 2 oxygen atoms. CO2 only makes up for 0.04% of the atmosphere, however CO2 is an exceptionally important gas. Although Earth's atmosphere is 90% opaque to long wave IR radiation, the vast majority of the atmosphere is not composed of gases that cause the greenhouse effect. Molecular nitrogen (N2) and oxygen (O2) make up roughly 98% of our atmosphere, and neither is a greenhouse gas. So, although the greenhouse effect is very powerful, a very small fraction of Earth's atmospheric gases generate the effect. The main greenhouse gasses are water
Water vapor, which is the most abundant greenhouse gas, but importantly, it acts as a feedback to the climate. Water vapor increases as the Earth’s atmosphere warms, but so does clouds and precipitation, making these the most important to the greenhouse effect. Nitrous Oxide, produced
“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 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
There are four major gases that cause the greenhouse effect. These chemicals are Chloroflourocarbons (CFC’s), Nitrous Oxide (N2O), Carbon Dioxide (CO2), and Methane (CH4). “CFC’s destroy ozone molecules by the thousands, causing a smaller amount of ozone in the ozone layer. This allows more UV rays hit the Earth’s surface, causing a slight increase of the Earth’s temperature. The more ozone molecules destroyed, the more UV rays enter the Earth’s atmosphere, making the temperature even higher”(What Is The Greenhouse Effect).
The greenhouse effect is a natural process that works to maintain the warmth radiating onto the Earth’s surface. It was first discovered by Joseph Fourier in 1842, and was later expanded on by John Tyndall in 1858 and Svante Arrhenius in 1896 (Princeton.edu, 2014). When the sun’s energy reaches our atmosphere, greenhouse gasses absorb some of it and some is reflected back into space. Greenhouse gasses include nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, water vapour, ozone and some artificial chemical such as chlorofluorocarbons (Climatechange.gov.au, 2014). The energy that is absorbed by the greenhouse gasses is re-radiated across the Earth, warming the lower levels of the atmosphere and its surface (Bom.gov.au, 2014). The greenhouse effect maintains
The most significant greenhouse gas is water vapor, which plays an important role in regulating climate. The changes in water vapor from human activities such as irrigation and deforestation can affect temperatures on the Earth’s surface (source). The second, is carbon dioxide, which is one of the main reasons for global warming. An increase in carbon emission causes the planet to warm by intensifying the IR energy influx in greenhouse effect (source). Also, carbon dioxide emission comes from deforestation and burning of fossil fuels. The third, is ozone for where life exists on our planet. It absorbs the higher-energy emitted from the Sun before reaching the Earth’s surface (source). However, the ozone in normally seen as smog can cause health problems for humans,
The greenhouse effect happens when greenhouse gases collect in the earth’s atmosphere. These gases included carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, fluorinated gases, and ozone. Greenhouse gases let the sun’s light shine onto the Earth’s surface but trap the heat that reflects back up into the atmosphere. In this way, they act like the glass walls of a greenhouse. This greenhouse effect keeps the
The most significant greenhouse gas is water vapor, which plays an important role in regulating climate. The changes in water vapor from human activities such as irrigation and deforestation can affect temperatures on the Earth’s surface (source). The second, is carbon dioxide, which is one of the main reasons for global warming. An increase in carbon emission causes the planet to warm by intensifying the IR energy influx in greenhouse effect (source). Also, carbon dioxide emission comes from deforestation and burning of fossil fuels. The third, is ozone for where life exists on our planet. It absorbs the higher-energy emitted from the Sun before reaching the Earth’s surface (source). However, the ozone in normally seen as smog can cause health problems for humans, animals, and plants.
As climate change and global warming remain some of the most debated topics in the contemporary social and political spheres, there is need to establish the leading causes of these global phenomena. To date, climate change scientists have differed on the causes of climate change, with one faction holding that climate change is natural and another one arguing that human activities are the primary drivers of climate change (Crowley, 286). More recent studies have embraced a softer stance on the climate change debate by concurring that both natural and human events contribute significantly to increase of the earth's average temperature. Nevertheless, the ongoing discussion of the causes of climate change raises severe concerns since life on planet earth depends heavily on the energy that comes from the sun. Usually, some of the heat that comes from the sun reaches the earth, where it is absorbed by greenhouse gases to help in maintaining a life-supporting temperature. About 10% of heat is reflected back to the atmosphere before reaching the earth's surface (Ball, 279). The change in climate, which is also popularly known as global warming, is as a result of excessive heat being trapped in the earth's atmosphere.
Some gases in our atmosphere can trap heat radiating from the earth, like how a greenhouse works by trapping in warmth. The gases that are responsible for this greenhouse effect is water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and chlorofluorocarbon or CFOs. Water vapor is the most abundant of the greenhouse gases, but give feedback to the
Global warming is a gradual increase of the overall temperature of the earth’s atmosphere, caused by the greenhouse effect. In natural circumstances the heat that is radiated by the sun should be re-radiated by the earth’s surface, whereby most of the heat escapes into space. However, increased carbon dioxide emissions and other air pollutants by humans cause more heat to be trapped in the