The Greenhouse Effect: The Cause Of Global Warming

Some of the sun’s energy called the solar radiation is absorbed by the earth, and some is reflected back to the space. A pure layer of atmospheric material absorbs some of this reflected solar radiation, releasing a portion of it to the space, but a big amount of it is forced back to the earth rising its surface temperature. That is where the term ‘greenhouse effect’ comes from. If it wasn’t for this greenhouse effect, the earth’s average climate would be colder. Scientists have done a lot of researches about this matter and recent ones showed that the greenhouse effect is increasing by the release of specific gases to the surrounding that make the earth’s temperature hotter causing global warming. Carbon dioxide supposes for around 85% of greenhouses gases released in the United States of America and the second largest contributor is Methane which comes from landfills, agricultural activities and other.

-There are many causes that can affect the global warming rate. It can be classified to natural causes and human causes:

1- Human causes

a- Burning of fossil fuels

Carbon dioxide (CO2), especially, is produces when fossil fuels are burned such as oil and coal. Although these types of gases have always been present in the world's atmosphere, their concentration is increasing with time as more fossil fuels are burned. The gases later warm the Earth s surface by releasing the energy trapped in them. When the GHGs absorb radiation, the stratosphere becomes warm and then re-emits infrared radiation back to the earth’s