ISS 310 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Greenhouse Gas Emissions By The United States, Ipcc Fourth Assessment Report, Global Warming Potential
20 Mar 2017
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Document Summary
Is a natural process that regulates earth"s temperature, making life, as we know it, possible. Radiation from an extremely hot object like the sun is shortwave, and radiation from a cooler object like the earth is longwave. Greenhouse glass, therefore, allows sunlight (shortwave radiation) into the greenhouse where it is absorbed. When the absorbed energy is radiated back to the glass as longwave radiation, the glass traps the longwave radiation, which heats the air inside the greenhouse. Tiny proportion of all the gases in our atmosphere, yet they are paramount to our comfortable existence on earth. Most abundant and variable greenhouse gas, varying over both time and space. Other than water vapor, carbon dioxide is the most abundant greenhouse gas and the one upon which humans seem to be having the most impact. Is released by decaying and burning plants as well as by animals as they digest plants.
