AS101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Runaway Greenhouse Effect
Document Summary
Earth, venus and mars all followed similar evolutionary processes in atmosphere production. These are all legitimate questions that university graduates should be able to talk about intelligently. The so-called balance of nature, the composition of the atmosphere, the temperature of the planet, the interaction of humans with their environment may be being pushed to the limit at this point in our development. Thereisnodoubtthatweareaffectingthebalanceofco inouratmospherethroughthe 2 injection of more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than ever before mainly. The very important graph shown here demonstrates this dramatically. Data collected from mauna loa (hawaii) yearly wiggles show seasonal variations. Such increases should result in an increased greenhouse effect that should increase the average temperature of the earth. Although it is difficult to measure the earth"s annual average temperature scientists generally agree that the earth has warmed slightly (close to 1 c) over the past century.
