GREENHOUSE EFFECT

The Greenhouse Effect is an atmospheric phenomenon produced by some gases present

in the atmosphere that allows maintaining the temperature of the planet by retaining part
of the energy coming from the Sun. Without this natural phenomenon, it is estimated
that the Earth would present climatic fluctuations that would be intolerable for life,
registering 80ºC during the day and –130ºC at night, with an average temperature of
-18ºC; instead of the current 15ºC.
Greenhouse gases absorb and produce the reflection or wave change of a portion of the
sun rays, which are transmitted to the earth's surface, in this way, the effective loss of
heat is diminished and as a consequence there is a large amount of energy retained
between the atmosphere and the surface of the Earth. This warming effect is the basis of
theories related to global warming.
Nowadays, it is absolutely necessary to talk about the greenhouse effect and its relation
with the global warming. First, it should be emphasized that last century a Swedish
scientist investigated profoundly the great climate change. Svante Arrhenius, established
a relationship between atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and temperature. He
also determined that the average surface temperature of the earth is 15 ° C due to the
absorption capacity of the Infrared radiation of water vapor and Carbon Dioxide, this is
called the natural greenhouse effect, abovementioned.
Arrhenius suggested that a double concentration of CO2 gases would cause a
temperature rise of 5°C. He and Thomas Chamberlin calculated that human activities
could cause the temperature to rise by adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Now,
the climate is hotter than before. The theory of the greenhouse effect became recognized
and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established by the
United Nations Environment Program and the World Meteorological Organization. The
purpose of this organization is to predict the impact of greenhouse gases taking into
account predicted models on climate and bibliographic information.
For now, there are not many measures regarding climate change. This is because there is
still much uncertainty about the theory of climate change. But climate change is a global
problem and difficult for individual countries to solve. People are increasingly
irresponsible with the planet and if it does not change next generations will suffer the
consequence.