Greenhouse Effect Explained

The greenhouse effect is the warming of our planet resulting from changes to the composition of our atmosphere. There is mounting evidence that our own activities, most significantly the burning of fossil fuels, are a major contributor to this effect.

The predicted consequences are severe, including major changes in climate which will have impact on food production, and rising sea levels which will submerge coastal and other low lying communities.

Major contributors to the greenhouse effect are gases such as carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide, has the unusual habit of absorbing infra-red radiation, which is heat radiating away from a warm object. During the day, sunlight warms the earth and during the night the Earth cools by radiating heat into space in the form of infra-red radiation. Carbon dioxide, and to a lesser extent other gases, absorb this radiation, limiting its exit out into space, and thus limiting the natural cooling effect.

Would it be safer if we had no greenhouse effect at all? Well no! There is another heat absorber - water vapour. There is a large amount of water vapour in the atmosphere at any one time and the presence of this water vapour as a heat absorbing gas keeps the Earth comfortably warm. Without this warmth, the planet would freeze, and life as we know it would not be possible.

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