me Essays - Greenhouse Gases, Climate Forcing, Climate Change

Global Warming Global Warming, aside from pollution is one of scientists biggest concerns. Global Warming is caused by the Greenhouse effect. There are 4 steps in the Greenhouse effect. 1-Sunlight radiates from the sun, through space, to Earth?s atmosphere. 2- The sunlight enters the atmosphere and hits Earth. Some of it turns into heat energy in the form of infrared light. The heat gets absorbed by surrounding air and land, which in turn makes it warm. 3- Infrared rays, that are remitted into the atmosphere are trapped by greenhouse gases. 4- The gas then absorbs the light and is remitted back to the Earth?s surface and warms it even more. Some of the naturally occurring greenhouse gases are Methane and carbon dioxide. This is the way the Earth keeps itself warm enough for humans to live on it. The only problem with this is that humans enhance the process even more. Over the past 200 years the emissions of greenhouse gases have been increasing due to the increase in technology that humans have developed (example, factories). These human-induced gases include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone depleting substances such as CFCs, also known as Chlorofluorocarbons, hydrofluorocarbons, and perfluorocarbons. These gases are generated a number of human activities such as fossil fuel combustion, waste disposal in landfills, the use of a refrigerator, numerous agricultural and industrial activities, and the cutting down of numerous forest...