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The greenhouse effect on Earth is defined as: "The infrared radiative effect of all infrared absorbing constituents in the atmosphere.Greenhouse gases (GHGs), clouds, and some aerosols absorb terrestrial radiation emitted by the Earth’s surface and elsewhere in the atmosphere."
Earth constantly absorbs energy from sunlight and emits thermal radiation as infrared light. In the long run, Earth radiates the same amount of energy per second as it absorbs, because the amount of thermal radiation emitted depends upon temperature: If Earth absorbs more energy per second than it radiates, Earth heats up and the thermal radiation will increase, until balance is restored; if ...
These simple energy-balance models always predict a decreasing temperature away from the surface, and all levels increase in temperature as "greenhouse gases are added". Neither of these effects are fully realistic: in the real atmosphere temperatures increase above the tropopause , and temperatures in that layer are predicted (and observed) to ...
These processes are part of the greenhouse effect. Climate models vary in complexity. For example, a simple radiant heat transfer model treats the Earth as a single point and averages outgoing energy. This can be expanded vertically (radiative-convective models) and horizontally.
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This is an accepted version of this page This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 10 February 2025. Gas in an atmosphere with certain absorption characteristics This article is about the physical properties of greenhouse gases. For how human activities are adding to greenhouse gases, see Greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gases trap some of the heat that results when sunlight heats ...
This is analogous to radiation trapping in the atmosphere, leading to the term "greenhouse effect". [127] An experiment performed by Prof. R. W. Wood in 1909 led him to reject radiation trapping, claiming that a greenhouse is heated merely due to convection blocking. [128] This result has become a widespread view in the scientific community.
Though water plays a major role in the process, the runaway greenhouse effect is not a result of water vapor feedback. [4] The runaway greenhouse effect can be seen as a limit on a planet's outgoing longwave radiation that, when surpassed, results in a state where water cannot exist in its liquid form (hence, the oceans have all "boiled away"). [3]