While other planets in the Earth's solar system are scorched by either hot or bitter cold, the Earth's surface has relatively mild, stable temperatures. Earth enjoys these temperatures due to its atmosphere, a thin layer of gases that collides with and protects the planet.
However, 97 percent of climate scientists agree that humans have changed the Earth's atmosphere in a dramatic way in the last two centuries, resulting in global warming. To understand global warming, it is necessary to first become familiar with the greenhouse effect, however.
Energy in, energy out
There is a delicate balancing act that takes place every day across the Earth, involving the planet receiving radiation from space and radiation back into space.
A large amount of radiation is continuously done on Earth, mainly from the Sun.
UV radiation has a higher wavelength and a higher energy level than visible light, while IR radiation has a shorter wavelength and weaker energy level. According to NASA, approximately 30 percent of the Earth's atmosphere is reflected back into space immediately by clouds, snow, ice, sand, and other reflective surfaces. The remaining 70 percent of incoming solar radiation is absorbed by the oceans, land, and atmosphere. As they warm, the ocean, land, and atmosphere release heat in the form of IR thermal radiation, which escapes the atmosphere and space.
It is this balance of incoming and outgoing radiation according to NASA that makes the Earth habitable with an average temperature of about 59 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Celsius). Without this atmospheric balance, the Earth would be cold and lifeless like its moon, or warm like Venus. The moon, which has almost no atmosphere, is minus 243 F (minus 153 C) on its dark side. Venus, on the other hand, has a very dense atmosphere that traps solar radiation; The average temperature on Venus is around 864 F (462 C).
The exchange of incoming and outgoing radiation that heats the earth is often referred to as the greenhouse effect because the greenhouse operates in the same way.
The incoming UV radiation easily passes through the glass walls of a greenhouse and is absorbed by plants and hard surfaces. However, weak IR radiation has difficulty passing through the glass walls and gets trapped inside, heating the greenhouse. This effect allows tropical plants to thrive inside the greenhouse, even during the cold.
A similar incident occurs in a car parked outside on a cool, sunny day. tha Incoming solar radiation warms the interior of the car, but the outgoing thermal radiation is trapped inside the car's closed to windows.
"Gas molecules that absorb thermal infrared radiation, and contain significant enough amounts, can force the climate system. These types of gas molecules are called greenhouse gases," an Associate of Environmental Sciences at Las Dell College Professor Michael Daly told Live Science. Carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases act as a blanket, absorb IR radiation and prevent it from escaping to the outside. The net effect is the gradual heating of the Earth's atmosphere and surface, a process known as global warming.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), these greenhouse gases include water vapor, CO2, methane, nitrous oxide (N2O) and other gases. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the early 1800s, the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gasoline has greatly increased the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, particularly CO2, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) . "Deforestation is the second largest anthropogenic source of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere at between 6 percent and 17 percent," said Basi.
Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, atmospheric CO2 levels have risen by more than 40 percent, from about 280 parts per million (ppm) to 400 ppm in the 1800s today. The last time the Earth's atmospheric level of CO2 reached 400 ppm was 5 million to 3 million years ago during the Pliocene Epoch, according to the University of California, Scripps Institution of Oceanography of San Diego.
The greenhouse effect, combined with rising levels of greenhouse gases and the resulting global warming, is expected to have profound effects according to the consensus of scientists.
If global warming continues unchecked, it will, according to NASA, EPA and other scientific and governmental bodies, be subject to significant climate change, sea level rise, increased ocean acidification, extreme weather events and other serious natural and social impacts. would cause.
There are those who say that gases are not the cause of global warming, although this is against the opinion of the global scientific community. "I think it is very challenging to do something to accurately measure human activity on the climate, and there is tremendous disagreement about the degree of impact. So no, I would not believe that this is a primary contribution of global warming that we see ", EPA chief Scott Pruitt told CNBC's morning news show" Squatch Box "on March 9, 2017. [Carbon Dioxide Is Warming The Planet (How How)]
Many scientists agree that there is no return of damage to the Earth's atmosphere and climate, or that the damage is near the point of no return. "I believe we have exceeded the climate change avoidance point," Joseph Verne, an associate professor in the Department of Geology and Planetary Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh, told Live Science. In Vern's opinion, from this point forward there are three options:
Adapt to the changing climate (which includes such things as rising sea levels and associated floods).
Reduce the impact of climate change by aggressively enforcing policies that actually reduce the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere.
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Keith Peterman, professor of chemistry at York College, Pennsylvania, and Gregory Foy, an associate professor of chemistry at York College of Pennsylvania, feel the damage is not yet at that point, and that international agreement and action will save the planet. Can atmosphere.
Currently, some scientists are investigating how to remodel the atmosphere to reverse global warming. For example, the theories published in the journal Science in Switzerland in July 2017 by Lohman and Blaise Gasparini, researchers at the Institute of Atmospheric and Climate Sciences at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, proposed to reduce cirrus clouds with heat scars.
Lohmann, a professor of experimental atmospheric physics at ETH Zurich, said, "If the clouds of cirrus around the earth behave like a blanket, you are trying to get rid of that blanket." [Planet cool? "Geoengineering Is Dear," said Lohenmann, "You remove the water vapor, you remove the humidity and you stop the normal cirrus cloud formation.
However, 97 percent of climate scientists agree that humans have changed the Earth's atmosphere in a dramatic way in the last two centuries, resulting in global warming. To understand global warming, it is necessary to first become familiar with the greenhouse effect, however.
 |
| Air pollution |
Energy in, energy out
There is a delicate balancing act that takes place every day across the Earth, involving the planet receiving radiation from space and radiation back into space.
A large amount of radiation is continuously done on Earth, mainly from the Sun.
UV radiation has a higher wavelength and a higher energy level than visible light, while IR radiation has a shorter wavelength and weaker energy level. According to NASA, approximately 30 percent of the Earth's atmosphere is reflected back into space immediately by clouds, snow, ice, sand, and other reflective surfaces. The remaining 70 percent of incoming solar radiation is absorbed by the oceans, land, and atmosphere. As they warm, the ocean, land, and atmosphere release heat in the form of IR thermal radiation, which escapes the atmosphere and space.
It is this balance of incoming and outgoing radiation according to NASA that makes the Earth habitable with an average temperature of about 59 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Celsius). Without this atmospheric balance, the Earth would be cold and lifeless like its moon, or warm like Venus. The moon, which has almost no atmosphere, is minus 243 F (minus 153 C) on its dark side. Venus, on the other hand, has a very dense atmosphere that traps solar radiation; The average temperature on Venus is around 864 F (462 C).
Green House Effect
The exchange of incoming and outgoing radiation that heats the earth is often referred to as the greenhouse effect because the greenhouse operates in the same way.
The incoming UV radiation easily passes through the glass walls of a greenhouse and is absorbed by plants and hard surfaces. However, weak IR radiation has difficulty passing through the glass walls and gets trapped inside, heating the greenhouse. This effect allows tropical plants to thrive inside the greenhouse, even during the cold.
A similar incident occurs in a car parked outside on a cool, sunny day. tha Incoming solar radiation warms the interior of the car, but the outgoing thermal radiation is trapped inside the car's closed to windows.
Greenhouse Gases and Global Warming
"Gas molecules that absorb thermal infrared radiation, and contain significant enough amounts, can force the climate system. These types of gas molecules are called greenhouse gases," an Associate of Environmental Sciences at Las Dell College Professor Michael Daly told Live Science. Carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases act as a blanket, absorb IR radiation and prevent it from escaping to the outside. The net effect is the gradual heating of the Earth's atmosphere and surface, a process known as global warming.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), these greenhouse gases include water vapor, CO2, methane, nitrous oxide (N2O) and other gases. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the early 1800s, the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gasoline has greatly increased the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, particularly CO2, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) . "Deforestation is the second largest anthropogenic source of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere at between 6 percent and 17 percent," said Basi.
Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, atmospheric CO2 levels have risen by more than 40 percent, from about 280 parts per million (ppm) to 400 ppm in the 1800s today. The last time the Earth's atmospheric level of CO2 reached 400 ppm was 5 million to 3 million years ago during the Pliocene Epoch, according to the University of California, Scripps Institution of Oceanography of San Diego.
The greenhouse effect, combined with rising levels of greenhouse gases and the resulting global warming, is expected to have profound effects according to the consensus of scientists.
If global warming continues unchecked, it will, according to NASA, EPA and other scientific and governmental bodies, be subject to significant climate change, sea level rise, increased ocean acidification, extreme weather events and other serious natural and social impacts. would cause.
There are those who say that gases are not the cause of global warming, although this is against the opinion of the global scientific community. "I think it is very challenging to do something to accurately measure human activity on the climate, and there is tremendous disagreement about the degree of impact. So no, I would not believe that this is a primary contribution of global warming that we see ", EPA chief Scott Pruitt told CNBC's morning news show" Squatch Box "on March 9, 2017. [Carbon Dioxide Is Warming The Planet (How How)]
Can the greenhouse effect be reversible?
Many scientists agree that there is no return of damage to the Earth's atmosphere and climate, or that the damage is near the point of no return. "I believe we have exceeded the climate change avoidance point," Joseph Verne, an associate professor in the Department of Geology and Planetary Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh, told Live Science. In Vern's opinion, from this point forward there are three options:
Do nothing and live with the result.
Adapt to the changing climate (which includes such things as rising sea levels and associated floods).
Reduce the impact of climate change by aggressively enforcing policies that actually reduce the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere.
advertisement
Keith Peterman, professor of chemistry at York College, Pennsylvania, and Gregory Foy, an associate professor of chemistry at York College of Pennsylvania, feel the damage is not yet at that point, and that international agreement and action will save the planet. Can atmosphere.
Currently, some scientists are investigating how to remodel the atmosphere to reverse global warming. For example, the theories published in the journal Science in Switzerland in July 2017 by Lohman and Blaise Gasparini, researchers at the Institute of Atmospheric and Climate Sciences at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, proposed to reduce cirrus clouds with heat scars.
Lohmann, a professor of experimental atmospheric physics at ETH Zurich, said, "If the clouds of cirrus around the earth behave like a blanket, you are trying to get rid of that blanket." [Planet cool? "Geoengineering Is Dear," said Lohenmann, "You remove the water vapor, you remove the humidity and you stop the normal cirrus cloud formation.
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