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Greenhouse Effect On a bright, cool day, most people notice the sun's rays as feeling good on their skin. By nature, many of us even try to stay on the sunny side of the street while walking. The sun is 93 million miles away from earth and its energy travels to us in moving waves called radiation. The energy becomes heat, light and other energy too. Visible sunlight allows us to see the world around us, but there is invisible sunlight, too. These rays can't be seen, but some can be felt as heat.
They are called ultraviolet rays, and they are what changes the appearance of the skin, like wrinkles and even cancer. I discovered a blanket of gases known as the atmosphere surrounding our planet. It is what provides us with the air we breathe, and it protects us from the full blast of the sun's radiation. Way up there in the part of the atmosphere called the stratosphere, a layer of gas called ozone, filters out most of the sun's damaging ultraviolet rays. This happens about five miles to 25 miles above the surface of Earth (Bright 14 - 15).
Only about one- millionth of our atmosphere is made up of ozone. But it has an important job. Ozone can absorb the part of the sunlight called ultraviolet radiation. Some ultraviolet radiation still gets through, but not enough to do serious damage to Earth. Because if it got through, life as we know it would be impossible. But there is a serious problem in the ozone layer.
Each year, a large hole appears in it. It isn't an actual hole, like a hole in a pocket, but a layer getting thinner as it shows up on the satellite pictures. The "hole" is right over Antarctica, covering an area about the size of the United States. Experiments done in Antartica show that the hole in the ozone layer appears to let in twice as much ultraviolet radiation as normal, according to measurements researchers made there about two years ago. Over the whole Earth, the ozone layer has been weakened, by an average of about 2 %, scientists say (Fisher 23).
Experts are concerned that extra radiation getting through to Earth's surface could lead to problems in the future. During the next century, extra ultraviolet radiation could cause millions of skin cancer problems. Scientists think that synthetic chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons are what is eating the hole in the ozone layer. Chlorofluorocarbons, called CFCs for short, are chemicals used in air conditioners, spray cans, foam food containers and other things. Once CFCs get into the atmosphere, they join with other chemicals that are already there. During Antarctica's long, dark winter time, lower temperatures in the stratosphere cause ice crystals to form in the air.
When the sun reappears over the horizon in October, it acts on the ice crystals and starts reactions between ozone and CFCs. So when the chemical reactions happen, the ozone breaks down (Fisher 34). During the 1990 's, the use of CFCs was expected to be cut in half. Fifty countries plan to sign an agreement governing the use of chemicals. A lot of people would still like to see an end to CFCs by the end of the century, which is not likely to happen. Scientists are not sure if the ozone layer will ever recover completely even if CFCs are taken away.
But the limitation would keep the problem from getting worse, they believe, and in time the ozone layer might rebuild itself (Fisher 37). It is important to understand that several gases like water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane keep the temperature in the ground at a global average of about 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Without that, the average would be below the freezing point of water. The gases have this effect because as incoming solar radiation hits the surface, the surface gives off infrared radiation. The effect is like when a greenhouse traps heat, which is where we got the name greenhouse effect.
Scientists are scared that changes in what is in the atmosphere, mainly changes caused by us, could cause the Earth's surface to warm up to a dangerous degree. Even a little rise in temperature might lead to at least a small amount of melting of the polar ice caps and then a major rise in sea level, along with other environmental problems. An example of a greenhouse effect is Earth's neighbor Venus. Because of Venus's thick carbon dioxide atmosphere the planet's cloud-covered surface is hot enough to melt lead (Bolin 49). Water vapor is an important greenhouse gas. That is why humid places are cooler at night than dry places.
But the variations in the atmosphere's carbon dioxide is why we have had so many climate changes. In fact, in recent decades there has been a global increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide, largely as a result of the burning of fossil fuels. If the many other determinate's of the earth's present global climate remains more or less constant, the CO 2 increase should raise the average temperature at the earth's surface (Bilger 61). In conclusion many scientists have maintained that the rise in global temperatures in 1980 's and early 1990 's is a result of the greenhouse effect.
An essay I read by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, prepared by 170 scientists, warned that the effect continues to increase noticeably. Most nations have wanted to reduce their methane emissions during the 1990 's (Houghton 108). Even though I don't think the problem will be solved soon, but most likely it will be solved. Not knowing when really scares me, but I have faith and believe in God and only the best for us will happen.
Bibliography: Works Cited Bilger, Bob. Global Warming. Chicago: VGM Career Horizons, 1985. Bolin, Bert. et al. The Green House Effect Climate Change and Ecosystems.
San Diego: Vintage Contemporaries, 1991. Bright, Mathew. The Greenhouse Effect. Springfield: J.
G. Ferguson, 1990. Fisher, David E. Fire and Ice: The Greenhouse Effect, Ozone Depletion, and Nuclear Winter.
Houston: Harcourt, 1990. Houghton, Jay. et al. "Climate Change: The IPCC Scientific Assessment. " Atlanta: Macmillan, 1993.
Free research essays on topics related to: ultraviolet radiation, carbon dioxide, ozone layer, ultraviolet rays, greenhouse effect
Research essay sample on Ultraviolet Radiation Ozone Layer
