Greenhouse gases are very important for there to be life on Earth; However, due to the continuous emission of gases such as carbon dioxide or methane, the climate is changing a lot throughout the planet. To try to keep it under control, various organisms keep a record of atmospheric data that help meteorologists to make increasingly accurate predictions, for example the NOAA Greenhouse Gas Index, which is based on atmospheric data, serves to know what happens to the weather right now.
And what happens is not good: greenhouse gases have increased by 40% between 1990 and 2016.
What is the greenhouse effect?
The greenhouse effect is the rise in temperatures as a result of the concentration of gases which are water vapor (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrogen oxide (NOx), ozone (O3) and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
When the sun's rays reach the Earth they quickly heat the ground, since the atmosphere is very transparent for visible light but much less for infrared radiation. Once they touch the earth's surface, they make it emits infrared rays that are largely absorbed by the atmosphere.
Although the amount of energy that is emitted into space is the same as that that is absorbed, the earth's surface has to reach the temperature at which both flows equilibrate, which is 15ºC on average.
If this effect were not produced, we would have an average terrestrial temperature of -18ºC. But if greenhouse gas concentrations continue to rise, the consequences of climate change could be devastating, since the average temperature would only go up. Sadly, that is precisely what is happening.
What are the effects of global warming?
The effects of global warming are many and varied, among them we find:
- Warmer temperatures
- Disease spread
- More intense storms
- Stronger heat waves
- Thaw
- Extinction of animal and plant species
- Rising sea levels
- Most dangerous hurricanes
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