GREEN HOUSE EFFECT

The greenhouse effect, as defined in the dictionary, is the effect produced as greenhouse gases allow incoming solar radiation to pass through the Earth's atmosphere, but prevent most of the outgoing infrared radiation from the surface and lower atmosphere from escaping into outer space. Even though this process occurs naturally and has kept the Earth's temperature about 60 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than it would otherwise be, current life on Earth could not be sustained without the natural greenhouse effect. Weather stations, balloons, ocean buoys, and satellites tell us the Earth’s temperature today. Ice cores, sediment layers, and tree rings tell us about what the Earth’s climate has been like in the past. With this evidence, scientists are learning how climate changes over time. Climate is the long-term average of a region's weather events lumped together. Climate change represents a change in these long-term weather patterns. They can become warmer or colder. Annual amounts of rainfall or snowfall can increase or decrease. Human activities are increasing greenhouse gas

concentrations and trapping more heat. The Earth’s climate is predicted to change due to the buildup of greenhouse gases; the associated rate of temperature change is mostly faster than any observed changes in the last 10,000 years. Climatic changes could have adverse effects on ecological systems, human health, and socioeconomic sectors. Earth has warmed by about 1f over the past 100 years. Scientists say the Earth could be getting warmer on its own, but many of the world's leading scientists think that things people do are helping to make the Earth warmer. Scientists are sure about the green house effect. They know that greenhouse gases make the Earth warmer by trapping energy in the atmosphere. Global warming refers to an average increase in the Earth's temperature, which in turn causes changes in climate.