Greenhouse effect how does it affect us

Emissions of several important greenhouse gases that result from human activity have increased substantially since large-scale industrialization began in the mids. Most of these human-caused anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions were carbon dioxide CO2 from burning fossil fuels. Concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere are naturally regulated by many processes that are part of the global carbon cycle.

The flux, or movement, of carbon between the atmosphere and the earth's land and oceans is dominated by natural processes like plant photosynthesis. Although these natural processes can absorb some of the anthropogenic CO2 emissions produced each year measured in carbon equivalent terms , starting in about , CO2 emissions began exceeding the capacity of these processes to absorb carbon.

This imbalance between greenhouse gas emissions and the ability for natural processes to absorb those emissions has resulted in a continued increase in atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases. Click to enlarge. Scientists know with virtual certainty that increasing greenhouse gas concentrations tend to warm the planet.

In computer-based models, rising concentrations of greenhouse gases produce an increase in the average surface temperature of the earth over time.

Rising temperatures may produce changes in precipitation patterns, storm severity, and sea level. Collectively, this is commonly referred to as climate change. It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the midth century. The report later states, "It is extremely likely that more than half of the observed increase in global average surface temperature from to was caused by the anthropogenic increase in greenhouse gas concentrations and other anthropogenic forcings together.

The report also states, "Concentrations of CO2, CH4, and N2O now substantially exceed the highest concentrations recorded in ice cores during the past , years. Accounting for about 2 percent of all emissions, they're used as refrigerants, solvents, and in manufacturing, sometimes occurring as byproducts. Other greenhouse gases include water vapor and ozone O 3.

Water vapor is actually the world's most abundant greenhouse gas, but it is not tracked the same way as other greenhouse gases because it is not directly emitted by human activity and its effects are not well understood. Similarly, ground-level or tropospheric ozone not to be confused with the protective stratospheric ozone layer higher up is not emitted directly but emerges from complex reactions among pollutants in the air.

Greenhouse gases have far-ranging environmental and health effects. They cause climate change by trapping heat, and they also contribute to respiratory disease from smog and air pollution. Extreme weather, food supply disruptions, and increased wildfires are other effects of climate change caused by greenhouse gases. The typical weather patterns we've grown to expect will change ; some species will disappear ; others will migrate or grow.

Read more about greenhouse gas effects via climate change here. Virtually every sector of the global economy, from manufacturing to agriculture to transportation to power production, contributes greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, so all of them must evolve away from fossil fuels if we are to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

Countries around the world acknowledged this reality with the Paris Climate Agreement of The changes will be most important among the biggest emitters: Twenty countries are responsible for at least three-quarters of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, with China, the United States, and India leading the way. The technologies for ramping down greenhouse gas emissions already exist, for the most part.

They include swapping fossil fuels for renewable sources, boosting energy efficiency, and discouraging carbon emissions by putting a price on them. Read more about such solutions here. The world technically has only one-fifth of its "carbon budget" —the total is 2. Halting the trends in motion will require more than just phasing out fossil fuels.

In fact, the paths to halting global temperature increases of 1. In , carbon emissions rose by 1. The most significant gases that cause global warming via the greenhouse effect are the following:. Carbon Dioxide Accounting for about 76 percent of global human-caused emissions, carbon dioxide CO 2 sticks around for quite a while.

Methane Although methane CH 4 persists in the atmosphere for far less time than carbon dioxide about a decade , it is much more potent in terms of the greenhouse effect.

In fact, pound for pound, its global warming impact is 25 times greater than that of carbon dioxide over a year period.

Globally it accounts for approximately 16 percent of human-generated greenhouse gas emissions. Nitrous Oxide Nitrous oxide N 2 O is a powerful greenhouse gas: It has a GWP times that of carbon dioxide on a year time scale, and it remains in the atmosphere, on average, a little more than a century. It accounts for about 6 percent of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.

Fluorinated Gases Emitted from a variety of manufacturing and industrial processes, fluorinated gases are man-made. Although fluorinated gases are emitted in smaller quantities than other greenhouse gases they account for just 2 percent of man-made global greenhouse gas emissions , they trap substantially more heat. Indeed, the GWP for these gases can be in the thousands to tens of thousands, and they have long atmospheric lifetimes, in some cases lasting tens of thousands of years.

Replacing these HFCs and properly disposing of them is considered to be one of the most import ant climate actions the world can take. Water Vapor The most abundant greenhouse gas overall, water vapor differs from other greenhouse gases in that changes in its atmospheric concentrations are linked not to human activities directly, but rather to the warming that results from the other greenhouse gases we emit.

Warmer air holds more water. And since water vapor is a greenhouse gas, more water absorbs more heat, inducing even greater warming and perpetuating a positive feedback loop. 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 s that drive nearly all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.

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.

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. 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.

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 nonagricultural 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 , industry accounted for Some of them, such as sulfate aerosols, have negative radiative forcings that can lead to cooling effects. Others, such as black carbon or soot, contribute to warming.

Albedo: Albedo is the amount of solar radiation reflected from an object or surface—the Earth's surface, in this case. Natural and human factors can affect albedo on a global scale through changes in large-scale features like the polar ice sheets or on a local or regional scale e.

Carbon dioxide is widely reported as the most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas because it currently accounts for the greatest portion of the warming associated with human activities. Carbon dioxide occurs naturally as part of the global carbon cycle, but human activities have increased atmospheric loadings through combustion of fossil fuels and other emissions sources.

Natural sinks that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere e. Methane comes from many sources, including human activities such as coal mining, natural gas production and distribution, waste decomposition in landfills, and digestive processes in livestock and agriculture.

Natural sources of methane include wetlands and termite mounds. Nitrous oxide is emitted during agricultural and industrial activities, as well as during combustion of solid waste and fossil fuels. Various synthetic chemicals , such as hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, sulfur hexafluoride, and other synthetic gases, are released as a result of commercial, industrial, or household uses. Many other gases are known to trap heat in the atmosphere.