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4.4: Climate Change

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List greenhouse gases found in the atmosphere.


Understanding: Carbon dioxide and water vapor are the most significant greenhouse gases.
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List greenhouse gases found in the atmosphere.


Understanding: Carbon dioxide and water vapor are the most significant greenhouse gases.
A greenhouse gas is a gas that absorbs and emits longwave radiation (heat). Greenhouse gases cause the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone.
Image: *List greenhouse gases found in the atmosphere.* Understanding: Carbon dioxide and water vapor are the most significant greenhouse gases.
State the sources of CO2 in the atmosphere.


Understanding: Carbon dioxide and water vapor are the most significant greenhouse gases.
Carbon dioxide is added to the atmosphere naturally when organisms respire or decompose, carbonate rocks are weathered, forest fires occur, and volcanoes erupt.

Carbon dioxide is also added to the atmosphere through human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels and forests and the production of cement.
Image: *State the sources of CO2 in the atmosphere.* Understanding: Carbon dioxide and water vapor are the most significant greenhouse gases.
State the sources of water vapor in the atmosphere.


Understanding: Carbon dioxide and water vapor are the most significant greenhouse gases.
The water in the atmosphere is due to evaporation of water during the water cycle. In the atmosphere, water exists as a gas (water vapor from evaporation), as a liquid (droplets of rain), and as a solid (snow and ice).
Image: *State the sources of water vapor in the atmosphere.* Understanding: Carbon dioxide and water vapor are the most significant greenhouse gases.
Define "greenhouse effect."


Understanding: Carbon dioxide and water vapor are the most significant greenhouse gases.
The greenhouse effect is the natural process by which radiation (heat) is trapped by a planet's atmosphere, warming the planet's surface to a temperature above what it would be without its atmosphere.
Image: *Define "greenhouse effect."* Understanding: Carbon dioxide and water vapor are the most significant greenhouse gases.
Outline the mechanism by which greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere.


Understanding: Carbon dioxide and water vapor are the most significant greenhouse gases.
Solar energy absorbed at Earth’s surface is radiated back into the atmosphere as heat.
A layer of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere absorb the heat and radiate it back to the Earth's surface.
Image: *Outline the mechanism by which greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere.* Understanding: Carbon dioxide and water vapor are the most significant greenhouse gases.