What is the Greenhouse Effect?
- It is a naturally occurring process.
- It is increased by carbon dioxide, water vapor, and methane which are able to change the energy balance of the planet by absorbing longwave radiation emitted from the Earth's surface.
- Naturally, 26% of the sun's energy is reflected or scattered back to space by clouds and other atmospheric particles.
- About 19% of the energy available is absorbed by clouds, gases (like ozone), and particles in the atmosphere.
- Of the remaining 55% of the solar energy passing through the Earth's atmosphere, 4% is reflected from the surface back to space. On average, about 51% of the Sun's radiation reaches the surface.
- When greenhouse gases are present in the atmosphere, they absorb the sun's heat, trapping it near the surface and heating the ground.
- Carbon Dioxide is the main greenhouse gas.
- Greenhouse gas levels have increased since the industrial revolution.
- Since 1750, methane concentrations in the atmosphere have increased by more than 150%.
- The primary sources for the additional methane added to the atmosphere are rice cultivation, domestic grazing animals, termites, landfills, coal mining, and oil and gas extraction.
- Nitrous Oxide is now increasing at a rate of 0.2 to 0.3% per year.
- Most of the nitrous oxide added to the atmosphere each year comes from deforestation and the conversion of forest, savanna and grassland ecosystems into agricultural fields and rangeland.
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