South Korea recorded tremendous heat waves this summer. Why is summer getting hotter? Why is the Earth's temperature rising?
The Earth's atmosphere acts like a glass window in house. It’s because the Earth’s atmosphere maintains some of the Earth’s temperature and we call this ‘greenhouse effect’. Therefore, we can compare the ideal Earth to room with a window which is opened moderately.
Greenhouse Effect and Global Warming
First of all, assuming the Earth is a giant greenhouse, it normally absorbs and uses energy from the sun, and then leaves the remaining energy outside the Earth to maintain its temperature. The energy from the sun is the light we see, so it passes through the atmosphere and is absorbed by the various objects on the Earth and warmed up. The warmer Earth emits a light called infrared. This infrared energy escapes the Earth, but some of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere holds it. Therefore, infrared energy that fails to get out of the Earth increases the temperature of the Earth. However, it is a problem because the layers of carbon dioxide get thicker and wider than before. In other words, the glass wall of a greenhouse (Earth) is getting thicker.
[As the sun's rays pass the atmosphere, some are reflected from Earth and the atmosphere, some are absorbed by greenhouse gases on Earth, and it makes the Earth's surface hot.]
Generally, many people consider 'greenhouse effect' and 'global warming' as same thing, but greenhouse effect is good for mankind and global warming is bad.
Both phenomena, of course, were caused by the presence of greenhouse gases (e.g. carbon dioxide, methane, freon gas, and so on) in the atmosphere, creating warm earth temperatures. However, the result is that the average temperature of the Earth is kept constant at a suitable temperature for life (greenhouse effect), or too severe a rise in temperature to change the flow of air and sea water and create unusual climates throughout the surface (global warming).
Earth’s atmosphere and greenhouse gases
If there is no atmosphere, the Earth's temperatures will drop. Therefore, people can’t live without greenhouse gases. However, it can cause a problem when the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increase excessively.
The Earth's atmosphere consists mainly of oxygen and nitrogen, but these gases do not cause any greenhouse effect. Gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect include: Water Vapor, Carbon dioxide (CO2), Methane, Nitrous Oxide, Chlorofluorocarbons.
The amount of water vapor does not affect the greenhouse effect because water vapor evaporates in the oceans, lakes, and surfaces. On the other hand, greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and Freon gas are increasing in amount in the atmosphere. Increasing greenhouse gases is the same as closing windows that were open in the room.
Main Culprit of Global Warming
The main cause of global warming is carbon dioxide. In fact, it is all emitted by human. Human emit it in various ways. Carbon dioxide occurs most often when fossil fuels such as oil and coal are burned. Oil is used extensively in heating homes and driving cars, as well as in coal-fired power plants, steel mills, and cement plants, and produces a lot of carbon dioxide. Deforestation is also a problem. This is because when forests disappear, the function of forests that turn carbon dioxide into oxygen disappears, so the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases.
