|  | Public Health Safety | Environmental Health

How Are the Greenhouse Effect & Global Warming Related?

The greenhouse effect is a natural process used to describe the warming of the Earth's surface. Global warming describes the exacerbation of this process. These different yet related phenomena are influential in the functioning of the world's ecosystems, as warmth provided by the greenhouse effect is necessary to sustain life, but excess heat from global warming may cause unwanted climatic changes.

  1. History of Greenhouse Effect and Global Warming

    • In the late 19th century, Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius linked atmospheric gases carbon dioxide and water vapor to increasing the Earth's temperature, and he suggested that human activity could intensify this natural process. In 1955, Gilbert Plass presented results of the infrared absorbing capacity of carbon dioxide. The prediction of a "global warming" effect was made by Stephen Schneider in 1976. Such research was only acknowledged in the late 1980s, and the term "greenhouse effect" was coined in 1988.

    The Greenhouse Effect

    • The term "greenhouse effect" is given to the role the atmosphere plays in warming the Earth. In a greenhouse, heat that enters becomes trapped and in turn warms the surface below. Another analogy used to describe this effect is the heat trapped in a car with closed windows. The common view is that atmospheric gases containing three or more atoms trap infrared radiation and return it to Earth, thus initiating a warming effect.

    Global Warming

    • Global warming is considered to be an amplification of the greenhouse effect. This is because of the human addition of methane, ozone and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), otherwise known as greenhouse gases. These gases are several times more potent at absorbing radiation than traditional carbon dioxide. The main contributor to their release is fossil fuel burning in the power sector, followed by the meat and dairy industry.

    Skeptics and Alternative Theories

    • The relevance of comparing the greenhouse effect to an actual greenhouse has long been disputed in scientific circles. According to researchers from the College of Earth and Mineral Science at Pennsylvania State University, the atmosphere does not in fact trap radiation, but absorbs it and emits new radiation with a different wavelength. Both theories agree, however, that the warming effect is because of atmospheric cover. The atmosphere is said to emit almost double the amount of radiation provided by the sun.

Environmental Health - Related Articles