Other Greenhouse Gases Ground-Level Ozone Learn more about Global Warming Potential (GWP), a measure of climate impacts based on how long each greenhouse gas remains in the atmosphere and how strongly it absorbs energy. In addition, some gases are more effective than others at making the planet warmer. F-GasesĬhlorofluorocarbons, hydrochlorofluorocarbons, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride, together called F-gases, are often used in coolants, foaming agents, fire extinguishers, solvents, pesticides, and aerosol propellants.ĭifferent greenhouse gases can remain in the atmosphere for different amounts of time, ranging from a few years to thousands of years. Fossil fuel burning and industrial processes also create nitrous oxide. Nitrous oxide is produced mainly through agricultural activities and natural biological processes. For example, natural wetlands, agricultural activities, and fossil fuel extraction and transport all emit methane. Source: Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Methaneīoth natural and human activities produce methane. Today, people are disturbing the carbon cycle by burning fossil fuels, which release large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and through land use changes that remove plants, which absorb carbon from the atmosphere. But a change in the amount of carbon in one reservoir affects all the others. The carbon cycle ensures there is a balanced concentration of carbon in the different reservoirs on the planet. Carbon is released back into the atmosphere when plants and animals die, as well as when fires burn, volcanoes erupt, and fossil fuels (such as coal, natural gas, and oil) are combusted. On the earth, carbon is stored in rocks, sediments, the ocean, and in living organisms. The carbon cycle is the process by which carbon continually moves from the atmosphere to the earth and then back to the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is absorbed and emitted naturally as part of the carbon cycle, through plant and animal respiration, volcanic eruptions, and ocean-atmosphere exchange. Carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere through burning fossil fuels, solid waste, trees, and other biological materials, and as a result of certain chemical reactions, such as cement manufacturing. Carbon DioxideĬarbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas contributing to recent climate change. 4 Greenhouse gases come from a variety of human activities, including burning fossil fuels for heat and energy, clearing forests, fertilizing crops, storing waste in landfills, raising livestock, and producing some kinds of industrial products. Most of the warming since 1950 has been caused by human emissions of greenhouse gases. However, the recent buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from human activities has changed the earth's climate and resulted in dangerous effects to human health and welfare and to ecosystems.
This process, commonly known as the “greenhouse effect,” is natural and necessary to support life. Those gases are known as “greenhouse gases.” They act like a blanket, making the earth warmer than it would otherwise be. Solar energy that is reflected back to space does not warm the earth.Ĭertain gases in the atmosphere absorb energy, slowing or preventing the loss of heat to space. Once absorbed, the planet releases some of the energy back into the atmosphere as heat (also called infrared radiation). Incoming energy that is absorbed by the earth warms the planet. When sunlight reaches the earth’s surface, it can either be reflected back into space or absorbed by the earth.
The earth's temperature depends on the balance between energy entering and leaving the planet’s system. But people’s activities are increasing the amount of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, causing the earth to warm up. The greenhouse effect helps trap heat from the sun, which keeps the temperature on earth comfortable.
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