Greenhouse Effect

and Global Warming

(MIDTERM)

CHRISTINE ALONZO
The Greenhouse Gasses
➢Many chemical compounds in the atmosphere act as greenhouse gases.

➢These gases allow sunlight (short wave radiation) to freely pass through the Earth’s
atmosphere and heat the land and oceans.

➢The warmed Earth releases this heat in the form of infrared light (long wave radiation),
invisible to human eyes.

➢Some infrared light released by the Earth passes through the atmosphere back into space.
However, greenhouse gases will not let all the infrared light pass through the atmosphere.
The Greenhouse Gasses
➢They absorb some and radiate it back down to the Earth.

➢This phenomenon, called the greenhouse effect, is naturally occurring and keeps the Earth’s
surface warm.

➢It is vital to our survival on Earth. Without the greenhouse effect, the Earth’s average surface
temperature would be about 60° Fahrenheit colder, and our current way of life would be
impossible.

➢The main gases responsible for the greenhouse effect include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous
oxide, and water vapor (which all occur naturally), and fluorinated gases (which are synthetic).
The Greenhouse Gasses
➢Water vapor has approximately twice the effect of the second most powerful greenhouse gas—
carbon dioxide.

➢Human activities do not have any significant direct impact on the level of water vapor in the
atmosphere.

➢However, as a result of global warming it is likely that human activities will have a significant
indirect impact on the level of water vapor in the atmosphere.

➢Water vapor is the most important greenhouse gas and the development of a better
understanding of the effect of global warming on atmospheric water in all its forms (solid,
liquid, and gas) is of critical importance.
Greenhouse gas influences
global warming depends on
three key factors.
Three Factors
➢The first is how much of it exists in the atmosphere. Concentrations are measured in parts per
million (ppm), parts per billion (ppb), or parts per trillion (ppt); 1 ppm for a given gas means,
for example, that there is one molecule of that gas in every 1 million molecules of air.

➢The second is its lifetime—how long it remains in the atmosphere.

➢The third is how effective it is at trapping heat. This is referred to as its global warming
potential, or GWP, and is a measure of the total energy that a gas absorbs over a given period
of time (usually 100 years) relative to the emissions of 1 ton of carbon dioxide.
Radiative Forcing (RF)
➢Radiative forcing (RF) is another way to measure greenhouse gases (and other climate drivers,
such as the sun’s brightness and large volcanic eruptions).

➢Also known as climate forcing, RF quantifies the difference between how much of the sun’s
energy gets absorbed by the earth and how much is released into space as a result of any one
climate driver.

➢A climate driver with a positive RF value indicates that it has a warming effect on the planet; a
negative value represents cooling.
What are Greenhouse Gas Emissions?
➢Since the start of the Industrial Revolution and the advent of coal-powered steam engines,
human activities have vastly increased the volume of greenhouse gases emitted into the
atmosphere.

➢It is estimated that between 1750 and 2011, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide
increased by 40 percent, methane by 150 percent, and nitrous oxide by 20 percent.

➢In the late 1920s, we started adding man-made fluorinated gases like chlorofluorocarbons, or
CFCs, to the mix.
What are Greenhouse Gas Emissions?
➢Human activity since the Industrial Revolution has increased the amount of greenhouse gases
in the atmosphere, leading to increased radiative forcing from CO2, methane, tropospheric
ozone, CFCs, and nitrous oxide.

➢According to work published in 2007, the concentrations of CO2 and methane had increased
by 36% and 148% respectively since 1750.

➢These levels are much higher than at any time during the last 800,000 years, the period for
which reliable data has been extracted from ice cores.

➢Less direct geological evidence indicates that CO2 values higher than this were last seen about
20 million years ago.
What are Greenhouse Gas Emissions?
➢Fossil fuel burning has produced about three-quarters of the increase in CO2 from human
activity over the past 20 years.

➢The rest of this increase is caused mostly by changes in land-use, particularly deforestation.

➢Another significant non-fuel source of anthropogenic CO2 emissions is the calcination of

limestone for clinker production, a chemical process which releases CO2.

➢There are efforts to develop types of cement that produce less CO2 but it is feared not
enough is being done.
What are Greenhouse Gas Emissions?
➢In recent decades we’ve only picked up the pace.

➢Of all the man-made emissions of carbon dioxide—the most abundant greenhouse gas released
by human activities, and one of the longest-lasting—from 1750 to 2010, approximately half
were generated in the last 40 years alone, in large part due to fossil fuel combustion and
industrial processes.

➢And while global greenhouse gas emissions have occasionally plateaued or dropped from year
to year (most recently between 2014 and 2016), they’re accelerating once again.

➢In 2017, carbon emissions rose by 1.6 percent; in 2018 they increased by an estimated 2.7
percent.
THE CAUSES IN SECTORS -
Transportation and energy for living
are the main causes of greenhouse
gas build up in the atmosphere as
carbon dioxide and nitrous oxides,
with agriculture loading us with
methane and more nitrous oxides.
Hence, we need to revise our eating
habits and switch to renewable
energy for our cars and industry as
quickly as possible.
What Is the Greenhouse Effect?
➢Identified by scientists as far back as 1896, the greenhouse effect is the natural warming of
the earth that results when gases in the atmosphere trap heat from the sun that would
otherwise escape into space.

➢The process by which absorption and emission of infrared radiation by gases in a planet's
atmosphere warm its lower atmosphere and surface.

➢On Earth, an atmosphere containing naturally occurring amounts of greenhouse gases causes
air temperature near the surface to be warmer by about 33 °C (59 °F) than it would be in
their absence.
What Is the Greenhouse Effect?
➢Without the Earth's atmosphere, the Earth's average temperature would be well below the
freezing temperature of water, when life on Earth would cease.

➢Hence, we need our envelope of gas to live, but not so much of a warm layer that we boil.

➢The ocean and ice caps acts like a giant heat sink, absorbing 20 times more heat than the
atmosphere.
What Causes the Greenhouse Effect?
➢Sunlight makes the earth habitable.

➢While 30 percent of the solar energy that reaches our world is reflected back to space,
approximately 70 percent passes through the atmosphere to the earth’s surface, where it is
absorbed by the land, oceans, and atmosphere, and heats the planet.

➢This heat is then radiated back up in the form of invisible infrared light.

➢While some of this infrared light continues on into space, the vast majority—indeed, some 90
percent—gets absorbed by atmospheric gases, known as greenhouse gases, and redirected back
toward the earth, causing further warming.
Five Major
Greenhouse Gasses
Five Major Greenhouse Gasses
➢The major greenhouse gases are:
▪ water vapor, which causes about 36–70% of the greenhouse effect;
▪ carbon dioxide (CO2), which causes 9–26%;
▪ methane (CH4), which causes 4–9%;
▪ nitrous oxide that accounts for around 5.6% and
▪ ozone (O3), which causes 3–7%.
Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
➢ Discussion of the human impact on the levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the
atmosphere is complicated by two factors.
• First, emissions of CO2 associated with human activities, while large on a human scale, are
small when compared to natural fluxes of CO2 associated with photosynthesis, respiration,
uptake into ocean water, and release from ocean water.
• Second, there are several large reservoirs of CO2 (e.g. atmosphere, upper ocean, deep
ocean, biosphere) which are continually exchanging CO2. In such a system one needs to be
very careful when using the words "source", "sink", and "lifetime".
• Instead of "source" and "sink" it is often better to refer to "net source" and "net sink".
Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
➢Thus, the oceans are both a large source and a large sink of atmospheric CO2.

➢With continual exchange between reservoirs it is not possible to specify a single atmospheric
lifetime for CO2.

➢The atmospheric lifetime of CO2 is typically quoted as approximately 100 years.

➢For simplicity the discussion below will not consider the natural fluxes of carbon between the
various reservoirs in the environment; instead it will focus on the human perturbation to the
natural cycle.
Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
➢Human activities are believed to lead to emission of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel combustion and
cement production from changes in tropical land use (deforestation).

➢The atmospheric burden of CO2 is increasing. To balance the CO2 budget "unknown terrestrial
sinks" have been invoked and have been inferred. This is often known as the "missing sink”

➢For terrestrial systems CO2-climate feedbacks include effects of temperature, precipitation and
radiation changes (changes in cloudiness) on primary production and decomposition.

➢For marine systems feedback occurs through climatic influences on ocean circulation and chemistry.

➢Rates of biological activity generally increase with warmer temperatures and increasing moisture.
The feedbacks of changing carbon dioxide and climate on ecosystems are many and complex.
Methane (CH4)
➢Methane (CH4) is the most abundant well mixed greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide.
➢In contrast to carbon dioxide, methane is removed from the atmosphere via chemical reaction with
hydroxyl (OH) radicals.
➢Methane plays an important role in atmospheric chemistry and it can influence the levels of other
important trace species via its reaction with OH.
➢All other factors being constant, increased atmospheric levels of methane will result in decreased
concentrations of OH and hence a longer lifetime for any gas whose atmospheric lifetime is
influenced by reaction with OH.
➢Also, an increase in methane will lead to the production of more tropospheric ozone which is an
important greenhouse gas.
Methane (CH4)
➢Methane is emitted into the atmosphere by a large number of natural and anthropogenic
sources.

➢Natural sources are believed to contribute approximately 30% of the methane flux while
anthropogenic sources account for the remaining 70%.

➢The largest natural sources are wetlands, termites, and oceans, respectively.

➢Anthropogenic sources are natural gas facilities, coal mines, petroleum industry, coal
combustion, enteric fermentation, rice paddies, biomass burning, landfills, animal waste and
domestic sewage.
Nitrous oxide (N2O)
➢Nitrous oxide (N2O) is the third most abundant well mixed greenhouse gas after carbon
dioxide and methane.

➢The atmospheric concentration of N2O has increased by approximately 16% since pre-
industrial times.

➢In addition to its importance as a greenhouse gas, N2O is transported through the troposphere
into the stratosphere where it reacts with O(1D) atoms and is the source of stratospheric NOx
(O(1D) atoms are electronically excited oxygen atoms).
Nitrous oxide (N2O)
➢Natural sources of N2O associated with emission from soils and the oceans to the atmosphere.

➢Anthropogenic emissions of N2O are associated with biomass burning, fossil fuel combustion,
industrial production of adipic and nitric acids, and the use of nitrogen fertilizer.

➢Photodissociation in the stratosphere is the major (90%) loss mechanism for N2O in the
atmosphere.
Halogenated organic compounds
➢Halogenated organic compounds are organic compounds containing one or more halogen
atoms.

➢Halogenated organic compounds can be fully substituted where all of the hydrogens in the
molecule have been replaced by halogen atoms, or partially substituted where some hydrogens
remain.
Halogenated organic compounds
➢Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and perfluorocarbons (PFCs) are two subsets of halogenated
organic compounds in which all hydrogen atoms have been substituted by fluorine and chlorine
atoms, or solely by fluorine atoms. CFC-12 (CCl2F2) and CFC-11 (CCl3F) are the two most
abundant CFCs in the atmosphere and are present at levels of 0.5 and 0.25 ppb (parts per
billion), respectively.

➢CF4 is the most abundant PFC and is found at a concentration of 0.08 ppb in the atmosphere.
Halogenated organic compounds
➢Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and hydrofluorochlorocarbons (HCFCs) are compounds in which
some, but not all, of the hydrogens have been replaced with fluorine (HFCs) or fluorine and
chlorine atoms (HCFCs).

➢Halons are a class of compounds containing bromine and chlorine (but no hydrogen).
Halogenated organic compounds
➢There are no significant natural sources of CFCs, PFCs, HFCs, HCFCs, or Halons.

➢These compounds were not present in the preindustrial atmosphere, and their presence in
contemporary air reflects emissions associated with industrial activities Carbon-halogen bonds
(e.g. C-F, C-Cl, C-Br) absorb strongly at infrared wavelengths and this is why halogenated
organic compounds are strong greenhouse gases.
Halogenated organic compounds
The effectiveness of these compounds as greenhouse gases depends on two factors:

(i) the number of carbon-halogen bonds in the molecule and

(ii) the atmospheric lifetime of the molecule.

PFCs have lifetimes of the order of thousands of years while CFCs and Halons persist for
typically 50-100 years.

By contrast HFCs and HCFCs have relatively short atmospheric lifetimes ranging typically from a
few months to a decade (depending on the particular compound).
Halogenated organic compounds
Recognition of the adverse environmental impact of CFCs and Halons on stratospheric ozone has led
to international controls on the use of these chemicals. Under the Montreal Protocol the production
of CFCs and Halons are being phased out and these compounds are being replaced by HFCs and
HCFCs.
While release of CFCs and Halons from existing equipment continues, the rate of such release has
decreased substantially and the atmospheric concentration of such compounds is beginning to
decline.
With accelerating use of HFCs and HCFCs over the past 10-20 years the levels of these compounds
in the atmosphere have increased substantially, HCFC-22 (CHF2Cl) is the most abundant at a
concentration of 0.1 ppb, while HFC-23 (CF3H), HCFC-141b (CFCl2CH3), HCFC-142b
(CF2ClCH3), and HFC-134a (CF3CFH2) are each present at a concentration of approximately 0.01
to 0.02 ppb.
Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)
➢On a per molecule basis, sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) is one of the most potent greenhouse gases
known.

➢Its potency stems from its intense absorption and its extremely long atmospheric lifetime of
3200 years.

➢SF6 is present in small amounts in fluorites and degassing from these minerals provides a
small natural source which results in a natural background concentration of 0.01 ppt.

➢SF6 is a useful industrial chemical used as an insulating gas in electrical switching equipment.
Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)
As a result of anthropogenic emissions the current level of SF6 in the atmosphere is
approximately 400 times that of the natural background and increasing.

New SF6-like greenhouse gas was detected in the atmosphere: SF5CF3.

While the concentration of SF5CF3 is very low and this compound does not play any significant
role in global warming it is of interest because on a per molecule basis it is the most potent
greenhouse gas yet identified in the atmosphere.
Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)
The discovery of SF5CF3 illustrates that there is much that is still to be learnt concerning such
greenhouse gases.

While it is unlikely that any single major greenhouse gas awaits discovery, the possibility that
many compounds such as SF5CF3 are present, with each making a small contribution that when
summed represent a non-negligible contribution cannot be ruled out at present.
Ozone (O3)
In contrast to all other greenhouse gases, ozone is not emitted into the atmosphere. Ozone is
generated in-situ in the atmosphere from two processes:

➢photolysis of molecular oxygen (O2) which gives oxygen atoms (O) which then add to
molecular oxygen to give ozone (O3) and

➢oxidation of organic compounds (from natural and man-made sources) in the presence of
nitrogen oxides (NOx)
Ozone (O3)
The first process only occurs in the upper atmosphere where there is sufficient short
wavelength sunlight to photodissociate molecular oxygen and this process gives rise to the
stratospheric ozone layer at altitudes of 20-50 km.

The second process occurs throughout the atmosphere but, because of the much greater
availability of organic compounds and NOx near the Earth's surface, is much more important in
the lower atmosphere (troposphere).

Emission of large amounts of organic compounds and NOx in urban areas leads to the formation
of substantial amounts of ozone in, and downwind of, large metropolitan centers around the
world.
Ozone (O3)
In discussions of the climatic impact of human perturbations of atmospheric ozone levels a
clear distinction must be made between ozone in the upper atmosphere (stratospheric ozone),
which has decreased as a result of human activities, and ozone in the lower atmosphere
(tropospheric ozone) which has increased as a result of human activities.
Finally, in contrast to all other greenhouse gases considered here, the atmospheric lifetime of
ozone is short (of the order of days or weeks, depending on local conditions) and hence its
concentration responds quickly to changes in atmospheric conditions.
Ozone concentrations in the lower atmosphere are typically 10-100 ppb with levels at the low
end of the range being characteristic of remote pristine environments and levels at the high end
of the range being typical of polluted urban air masses.
Ozone (O3)
The depletion of stratospheric ozone during the period 1979-2000 (caused by the release of
CFCs and subsequent chemical reactions) has led to a negative radiative forcing of climate.

International agreements are now in place which should eliminate the emission of CFCs over the
next few decades.

It is expected that the stratospheric ozone layer will recover during the twenty-first century and
that the magnitude of the negative radiative forcing associated with stratospheric ozone loss
will decrease with time.
Ozone (O3)
It is believed that the levels of ozone in the troposphere have increased by 30-40% since 1750
due to increased emission of organic compounds and NOx.

This increased concentration of tropospheric ozone has contributed a positive radiative forcing.

The forcing associated with tropospheric ozone varies substantially by region and season and will
respond quickly to changes in emissions of ozone forming compounds.
Where Do Greenhouse Gases Come From?
➢Population size, economic activity, lifestyle, energy use, land use patterns, technology, and
climate policy: According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), these are
the broad forcing that drive nearly all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.

➢Here’s a closer look at greenhouse gas emissions by source.

Electricity and Heat Production
➢The burning of coal, oil, and natural gas to produce electricity and heat accounts for one-
quarter of worldwide human-driven emissions, making it the largest single source.

➢In the United States it’s the second-largest (behind transportation), responsible for about 27.5
percent of U.S. emissions in 2017, with carbon dioxide the primary gas released (along with
small amounts of methane and nitrous oxide), mainly from coal combustion.
Agriculture and Land Use Changes
➢About another quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions stem from agriculture and other
land-use activities (such as deforestation).

➢In the United States, agricultural activities—primarily the raising of livestock and crops for
food—accounted for 8.4 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in 2017.

➢Of those, the vast majority were methane (which is produced as manure decomposes and as
beef and dairy cows belch and pass gas) and nitrous oxide (often released with the use of
nitrogen-heavy fertilizers).
Agriculture and Land Use Changes
➢Trees, plants, and soil absorb carbon dioxide from the air.
➢The plants and trees do it via photosynthesis (a process by which they turn carbon dioxide into
glucose); the soil houses microbes that carbon binds to.
➢So non-agricultural land-use changes such as deforestation, reforestation (replanting in existing
forested areas), and afforestation (creating new forested areas) can either increase the amount of
carbon in the atmosphere (as in the case of deforestation) or decrease it via absorption, removing
more carbon dioxide from the air than they emit.
➢(When trees or plants are cut down, they no longer absorb carbon dioxide, and when they are
burned or decompose, they release carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere.)
➢In the United States, land-use activities currently represent a net carbon sink, absorbing more
carbon dioxide from the air than they emit.
Industry
➢About one-fifth of global human-driven emissions come from the industrial sector, which
includes the manufacturing of goods and raw materials (like cement and steel), food processing,
and construction.

➢In 2017, industry accounted for 22.4 percent of U.S. man-made emissions, of which the
majority was carbon dioxide, though methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases were also
released.
Transportation
➢The burning of petroleum-based fuels, namely gasoline and diesel, to power the world’s
transportation systems accounts for 14 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
➢In the United States, with Americans buying larger cars and taking more flights and with low gas
prices encouraging drivers to use their cars more, transportation is the largest contributor of
greenhouse gases. (It accounted for 28.7 percent of U.S. emissions in 2017.)
➢Carbon dioxide is the primary gas emitted, though fuel combustion also releases small amounts of
methane and nitrous oxide, and vehicle air conditioning and refrigerated transport release fluorinated
gases too.
➢Nationwide, cars and trucks are responsible for more than 80 percent of transportation-related
carbon emissions.
Buildings
➢Operating buildings around the world generates 6.4 percent of global greenhouse gases.

➢In the United States, homes and businesses accounted for about 11 percent of warming
emissions.

➢These emissions, made up mostly of carbon dioxide and methane, stem primarily from burning
natural gas and oil for heating and cooking, though other sources include managing waste and
wastewater and leaking refrigerants from air-conditioning and refrigeration systems.
Other Sources
➢This category includes emissions from energy-related activities other than fossil fuel
combustion, such as the extraction, refining, processing, and transportation of oil, gas, and coal.

➢Globally, this sector accounts for 9.6 percent of emissions.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Country
➢Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, more than 2,000 billion tons of carbon dioxide
have been released into the atmosphere by human activities, according to the Global Carbon
Project.

➢North America and Europe are responsible for approximately half of that total, while the
emerging economies of China and India have contributed another 14 percent.

➢For the remainder, 150-plus countries share responsibility.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Country
➢An analysis of carbon dioxide emissions by country today shows that China now leads the pack,
responsible for 27 percent of all emissions.

➢Next comes the United States (15 percent), the European Union’s 28 member states including
the United Kingdom (10 percent), and India (7 percent) next. Together, these global powers
account for almost 60 percent of all emissions.
The Consequences of the Greenhouse Effect
➢Today’s human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are higher than ever, the concentration of
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is rising rapidly, and according to the IPCC, the planet is heating
up.
➢Between preindustrial times and now, the earth’s average temperature has increased 1.8 degrees
Fahrenheit (1.0 degrees Celsius), with approximately two-thirds of that warming occurring in the last
handful of decades alone.
➢According to the IPCC, 1983 to 2012 was likely the warmest 30-year period of the last 1,400
years (in the Northern Hemisphere, where assessment is possible).
➢And all five of the years from 2014 to 2018 were the hottest on record globally.
➢If warming trends continue at the current rate, it’s estimated global warming will reach 2.7 degrees
Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) above preindustrial levels between 2030 and 2052.
Fueled by man-made greenhouse gas emissions, global warming is altering the earth’s
climate systems in many ways. It is:

➢Causing more frequent and/or intense extreme weather events, including heat waves,
hurricanes, droughts, and floods.

➢Exacerbating precipitation extremes, making wet regions wetter and dry regions drier.

➢Raising sea levels due to melting glaciers and sea ice and an increase in ocean temperatures
(warmer water expands, which can contribute to sea level rise).

➢Altering ecosystems and natural habitat, shifting the geographic ranges, seasonal activities,
migration patterns, and abundance of land, freshwater, and marine species.
The Consequences of the Greenhouse Effect
➢These changes pose threats not only to plants and wildlife, but directly to people.
➢Warmer temperatures mean insects that spread diseases like dengue fever and Zika can thrive—and
heat waves are getting hotter and more lethal to humans.
➢People could go hungry when our food supply is diminished thanks to droughts and floods—a 2011
National Research Council study found that for every degree Celsius that the planet heats up, crop
yields will go down 5 to 15 percent.
➢Food insecurity can lead to mass human migration and political instability.
➢And in January 2019, the Department of Defense released a report that described the threats to
U.S. military installations and operations around the world due to flooding, droughts, and other
impacts of climate change.
The Natural Greenhouse Effect
➢The greenhouse effect is the rise in temperature that the Earth experiences because certain
gases in the atmosphere (water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, ozone, methane, for
example) trap energy that comes from the sun.

➢These gases are usually called greenhouse gases since they behave much like the glass panes
in a greenhouse.

➢The glass panels of the greenhouse let in the light but keep heat from escaping and this is
similar to the effect these gasses have on earth.
The Natural Greenhouse Effect
➢Sunlight enters the Earth's atmosphere, passing through the greenhouse gases.

➢As it reaches the Earth's surface, land, water, and biosphere absorb the sunlight's energy.

➢Once absorbed, this energy is sent back into the atmosphere.

➢Some of the energy passes back into space, but much of it remains trapped in the atmosphere
by the greenhouse gases.

➢This is the completely natural process and without these gases all the heat would escape back
into space and Earth's average temperature would be about 30 degrees Celsius (54 degrees
Fahrenheit) colder.
The Natural Greenhouse Effect
➢The greenhouse effect is very important process, because without the greenhouse effect, the
Earth would not be warm enough for humans to live.

➢But if the greenhouse effect becomes stronger, it could make the Earth warmer than usual.

➢Even a little extra warming may cause problems for humans, plants, and animals.
The Enhanced Greenhouse Effect
➢Some human activities also produce greenhouse gases and these gases keep increasing in the
atmosphere.

➢The change in the balance of the greenhouse gases has significant effects on the entire planet.

➢Burning fossil fuels - coal, oil and natural gas - releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

➢Cutting down and burning trees also produces a lot of carbon dioxide.

➢A group of greenhouse gases called the chlorofluorocarbons have been used in aerosols, such
as hairspray cans, fridges and in making foam plastics.
The Enhanced Greenhouse Effect
➢Since there are more and more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, more heat is trapped,
which makes the Earth warmer.

➢This is known as global warming.

➢ A lot of scientists agree that man's activities are making the natural greenhouse effect
stronger.

➢If we carry on polluting the atmosphere with greenhouse gases, it will have very dangerous
effects on the Earth.

➢Today, the increase in the Earth's temperature is increasing with unprecedented speed.
The Enhanced Greenhouse Effect
➢To understand just how quickly global warming is accelerating, consider that during the entire
20th century, the average global temperature increased by about 0.6 degrees Celsius (slightly
more than 1 degree Fahrenheit).

➢Using computer climate models, scientists estimate that by the year 2100 the average global
temperature will increase by 1.4 degrees to 5.8 degrees Celsius (approximately 2.5 degrees to
10.5 degrees Fahrenheit).
Global Warming
➢"Global warming" refers to the enhanced greenhouse effect expected to result from an increase
in atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases resulting from emissions associated with
human activities.

➢Absorption of infrared irradiation by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has been well
documented by satellite observations.
Global Warming
➢Water vapor, ozone, and methane are also strong absorbers of infrared radiation.

➢The presence of these natural greenhouse gases in the atmosphere prevents the direct escape
of terrestrial infrared radiation into space.

➢Increases in the atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, water
vapor, methane, and ozone will act to further hinder the escape of terrestrial infrared radiation
and hence warm the Earth's surface.
Global Warming
➢Certain industrial gases such as sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) and the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
are powerful absorbers in the atmospheric window region and have a particularly pronounced
greenhouse effect (on a mass basis SF6 is 22, 200 times more powerful a greenhouse gas
than carbon dioxide).

➢To understand the potential for human induced global warming we need to consider the human
contribution to greenhouse gas levels.