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Which statement BEST describes how greenhouse gasses act as natural insulators in the Earth's system?

User Johnny Mnemonic
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Hi there, your answer is below.

The gases absorb and emit a part of the heat reflected by the Earth's surface.

Solar radiation will pass through the atmosphere first in the greenhouse effect. Some of them will get through and touch the surface of the planet. Long-wave thermal radiation, which is what the greenhouse gases will absorb, will be produced when some of the energy that strikes the Earth's surface is transformed. They are returned to the Earth via greenhouse gases.

What are greenhouse gases, and why do they affect our environment?

The surface of the Earth would be much colder and have a "snowball Earth" if it weren't for the impact of greenhouse gases, primarily water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane.

Because the greenhouse gases are generally transparent to the sun's incoming radiation, which is mostly in the visible light region of the spectrum, the greenhouse effect is able to take place. In contrast, the majority of the radiation that the Earth emits is in the infrared region of the spectrum, which is absorbed by greenhouse gases. Some of the radiation from these gases is redirected to the earth when it is later released. This traps it, warming the planet's surface in the process. The average temperature of the Earth would be -14 degrees Celsius without greenhouse gases.

Greenhouse gases have acted to even out temperature changes over Earth's history. Huge woods have thrived when the Earth experienced warmer times, as the Carboniferous epoch. These have taken in carbon dioxide from the air, storing the resultant carbon in the form of coal deposits underground. After a certain amount of carbon has been stored, the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide falls to very low levels, and the warming effect is eliminated. The trees perish as the globe cools. Currently, plants are no longer removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, while volcanoes are still adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. The increase in carbon dioxide causes a rise in global warming. We are now recuperating from the last glacier, which ended roughly 10,000 years ago, during a mild time. In the past 120,000 years, the previous warm era peaked.

The ability of carbon dioxide to boost plant development is another crucial effect. Without the impact of the increased carbon dioxide concentration on crops, it is improbable that the Earth could support the 7 billion people that inhabit it now.

The amount of carbon stored in the atmosphere is rather tiny. There are currently 800 billion tons of carbon in it. But only approximately a quarter of this, or 210 billion tons, of the carbon gets recycled each year by plants and the seas. Consequently, the two-year half life of carbon in the atmosphere is rather short. Because there is such a tiny atmospheric carbon storage, people have a significant impact. Burning fossil fuels only adds roughly 9 billion tons annually. But throughout my lifetime, the concentration has increased by 30%, from around 300 parts per million in 1947 to 410 parts per million now, as a result of this modest increment each year. As a result, there has been a little but considerable increase in surface temperature as well as rising sea levels due to ice cap melting. Although the increase in sea levels over the past 70 years has only been around 9 inches, it is rising, and because so many people live near the coasts, we are susceptible.

Because the atmospheric carbon storage is so limited, it is possible to lower atmospheric carbon and prevent flooding in our coastal communities, for example by fertilizing the seas to improve their capacity to absorb carbon dioxide.

Thank you,

Eddie

Which statement BEST describes how greenhouse gasses act as natural insulators in-example-1
User Dennis Ashford
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