4.3 Flashcards
What are greenhouse gases, and what do they do?
The greenhouse gases are gases in our atmosphere, like methane, CO2, Nitrogen, and water vapor. They reflect infrared radiation either back at Earth’s surface or into space.
What is the greenhouse effect?
Why is the greenhouse effect important?
How have humans affected it?
The greenhouse effect is when greenhouse gases trap sunlight in Earth’s atmosphere, heating the planet up gradually, and preventing it from losing a lot of its heat. It is important because it makes the Earth warm enough for living things to survive. Humans have affected it by releasing too many greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, burning fossil fuels, and using fertilizers with nitrogen, which causes the planet to become too warm because the chances of sunlight and heat remaining trapped in Earth’s atmosphere increase when there are more gases.
How do ice cores show what the CO2 amounts and temperature were 800,000 years ago?
Ice cores show the CO2 amounts through trapped gases that have remained, the height of each layer and what is in each layer shows the temperature and CO2 amounts and general events that happened far back in history.
What is a positive feedback loop? What is a negative feedback loop?
Positive feedback loops amplify the effects of something, negative feedback loops negate an effect of something.
What will happen with permafrost when the amount of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere increases? Will it be a positive or negative feedback loop?
The temperature will rise, causing more permafrost to melt, which will release more greenhouse gases, which will continue making the temperature rise. This is an example of a positive feedback loop.
