Global Warming and the Greenhouse Effect Essay -- Environmental Global

Global Warming and the nursery EffectThe greenhouse effect, in environmental science, is a popular end point for the effect that certain variable quantity constituents of the Earths lower atmosphere have on surface temperatures. It has been known since 1896 that Earth has been warmed by a covert of gasses (This is called the greenhouse effect.). The gases--water vapor (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), and methane (CH4)-- delay ground temperatures at a global average of about 15 degrees C (60 degrees F). Without them the average would be beneath the freezing point of water. The gases have this effect because as incoming solar radiation strikes the surface, the surface gives off infrared radiation, or heat, that the gases trap and keep near ground level. The effect is comparable to the way in which a greenhouse traps heat, hence the term. Environmental scientists are concerned that changes in the variable contents of the atmosphere--particularly changes caused by human activities--coul d cause the Earths surface to warm up to a dangerous degree. Since 1850 there has been a mean rise in global temperature of approximately 1? C (approximately 1.8? F). Even a circumscribed rise in average surface temperature might lead to at least partial melting of the polar icecaps and hence a study rise in sea level, along with other severe environmental disturbances. An example of a runaway greenhouse effect is Earths near-twin planetary inhabit Venus. Because of Venuss thick CO2 atmosphere, the planets clo...