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MODULE #1:
Climate Change &
Global Warming
Greenhouse Gases - (GHGs)
&
“The Greenhouse Effect”
W
hat are Greenhouse Gases?
They are gases that are transparent to
sunlight but opaque to heat radiation…
In other words, sunlight passes through but
heat rising from Earth gets trapped by them
Examples:
carbon dioxide
methane
nitrous oxide
CFCs, PFCs, SF6
tropospheric ozone
Photo courtesy of SEAWIFS
How do Greenhouse Gases cause
“The Greenhouse Effect”?
The Sun’s rays travel
through space, and then
…but much of the
the Earth’s
sunlight’s energy heats through
up
Greenhouse gas
molecules,
atmosphere
the dark-colored objects
like carbon dioxide, absorb
on the Earth.
energy
muchThis
of this
heat and reis then released
into
releaseback
it back
to the Earth
the air in the
form
of heat
& the
atmosphere
(infrared radiation)
Some of these rays are
reflected back into space
off of clouds and lightcolored objects on the
ground
SUN
A natural (and balanced)
“Greenhouse Effect” created by
gases (water vapor, carbon
dioxide and other gases) in our
atmosphere allows us to live
comfortably
on planet Earth.
If there was here
no natural
greenhouse
effect, the
What happens
toaverage
global
temperatureonwould
temperatures
Earthbeif
about 60°F colder than we
we add lots
experience
now. of greenhouse
gases
to the
Our
weather
and atmosphere
climate are in
a very by
short
controlled
howperiod
much ofof
thetime
sun’s
energy
getsdelicate
trapped.
(andactually
upset this
natural balance)?
To learn what this has to do with Climate Change / Global Warming,
please take a look at MODULE #2 …
“The Greenhouse Effect”