Greenhouse Effect & Earth's Energy Balance Community
Questions, answers and tips from people who use the Greenhouse Effect & Earth's Energy Balance. Change the sun, reflectivity and greenhouse gases and see the surface temperature of Earth, Venus, Mars or Snowball Earth..
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This page shows only real posts from real people, so it starts empty. The guide below has the questions people most often have about the Greenhouse Effect & Earth's Energy Balance. Pick one to start a thread, or write your own.
From the tool guide: common questions about Greenhouse Effect & Earth's Energy Balance
The items below are not posts by community members. They come from the written guide for this tool and are here to get a conversation started. Use “Ask a follow-up” to open a thread about any of them.
What is the greenhouse effect?
A natural warming caused by gases in the air that absorb infrared heat from the surface and radiate part of it back down.
From the tool guide Ask a follow-upWhy is Venus so hot?
It has a thick carbon dioxide atmosphere with a strong greenhouse effect and it is closer to the Sun.
From the tool guide Ask a follow-upKey ideas
- Without any greenhouse effect Earth would average about -18 C.
- Greenhouse gases absorb heat from the ground and send part of it back down, warming the surface. The more they trap (the optical depth), the hotter it gets.
- More reflective surfaces (higher albedo) send more sunlight back to space and cool the planet.
- In balance, the heat leaving equals the sunlight absorbed.
Things to try
- Choose No atmosphere and compare with Earth today.
- Raise the greenhouse gas amount a little and see how much the surface warms.
- Try Snowball Earth and explain why ice keeps a planet cold.
- Compare Venus-like and Mars-like worlds.
Where this is used
Climate scientists use energy-balance models like this to understand global warming, and it also explains the surface temperatures of other planets.
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