The terms ‘Global Warming’ and ‘Climate Change’ are synonymous with the pollution and degradation of the environment today. Scientists, however, remain mixed in their understanding of whether these two processes are naturally occurring or if they are being accelerated by human involvement.
In all this conversation, ‘Greenhouse Effect’ is a familiar concept, denoting the direction the Earth is heading towards with climate. More often than not, the greenhouse effect is used in a negative connotation of global warming, to explain the melting of polar glaciers and drastic shifts in climatic patterns. Meanwhile, a theory also suggests that this effect is a crucial and positive aspect of Earth’s energy balance, and is evolutionary. It’s what allows the planet to stay warm for life to thrive, without which, it would feel something like Mars.
According to NASA, “The greenhouse effect is the way in which heat is trapped close to Earth’s surface by ‘greenhouse gases’. These heat-trapping gases can be thought of as a blanket wrapped around Earth, keeping the planet toastier than it would be without them.”
Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxides, and water vapor. Scientists determine that CO2’s warming effect stabilises the atmosphere. Removing the compound will cause the terrestrial greenhouse effect to collapse. Without CO2, the Earth’s surface would be cooler by 33°C.
The greenhouse effect is named after the greenhouses used to keep growing plants warm. Simply put, a similar process on a much larger scale keeps Earth warm for sustaining life.
“When the Sun’s rays hit the Earth’s atmosphere and surface, approximately 70% of the energy stays on the planet, absorbed by land, oceans, plants and other things. The other 30% is reflected into space by clouds, snow fields and other reflective surfaces,” explains NASA.
Meanwhile, the things around the planet that absorb the Sun’s heat eventually radiate a portion of it back out at a different wavelength.
This absorption-radiation maintains the Earth’s radiative equilibrium: The sun’s radiation constantly strikes Earth, warming it; the Earth emits some of that radiation back into space, cooling itself. The heat that does not make it out through the atmosphere keeps the planet warmer than it is in outer space, because more energy is coming in through the atmosphere than is going out. This greenhouse effect keeps the Earth warm.
Scientists, however, maintain that since the Industrial Revolution, and the onset of heavy industry and gas-guzzling transport modes, the greenhouse effect has experienced imbalance, with the Earth’s atmosphere trapping too much heat. It’s this human intervention that is attributed to the greenhouse effect being discussed with environmental decline, especially leading to frequent catastrophes like floods, droughts, and extreme weather.
