4.3 Climate Change Flashcards
What are greenhouse gases and what do they do?
Gases in the earth’s atmosphere that trap heat. During the day, the sun shines through the atmosphere, warming the earth’s surface. At night the earth’s surface cools, releasing heat back into the air. But some of the heat is trapped by the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Why is it important and how have human affected it?
This process makes Earth much warmer than it would be without an atmosphere. The greenhouse effect is one of the things that makes Earth a comfortable place to live.
What is the greenhouse effect?
The greenhouse effect is a process that occurs when gases in Earth’s atmosphere trap the Sun’s heat
What do ice cores tell us about the patterns of CO2 and temperature for the past 800,000 years?
By looking at past concentrations of greenhouse gasses in layers in ice cores, scientists can calculate how modern amounts of carbon dioxide and methane compare to those of the past, and, essentially, compare past concentrations of greenhouse gasses to temperature.
What is the difference between positive and negative feedback?
Positive feedback occurs to increase the change or output: the result of a reaction is amplified to make it occur more quickly. Negative feedback occurs to reduce the change or output: the result of a reaction is reduced to bring the system back to a stable state.
