Some questions about global climate change quite lengthy)?

Question

What are green house gasses?

Could you name some natural sources as well as man made

What are some othere contributing factors to the green house effect?

Does deforestation have a relation ?

thanks for answering

Answer 1

The largest percentage by far of greenhouse gasses is water vapor. When you boil water on your stove, you are adding to greenhouse effect. Maybe we should declare water vapor to be a pollutant like the EPA recently did with CO2.

Answer 2

Greenhouse gases are gases that allow shortwave energy (visible sunlight) to pass right through, but absorb long wave energy (heat) emitted by the earth.  CO2, CH4 (methane), and N20 (nitrious oxide) are three big ones.

About 80% of CO2 in the atmosphere is generated by human activity including combustion of fossil fuels (see DOE don't have the link).  Natural and human activity can result in the the decay of organic matter (happens with deforestation - the slash left behind is sometimes burned, sometimes rots - but either way it becomes CO2).  This does not mean stop using all wood products.  Wood can be a very sustainable resource is used wisely.  The same damage can occur with mining and farming.  The real trick is to be careful to consume what you need and not waster resources.  

Rice farming emits a lot of CH4 and do ruminants (cattle sheep, goats).I think N2O is mostly generated in the atmosphere from car exhaust gases (NO, NO2) reacting in the atmosphere to eventually make N20, and from natural sources (plants I think emit a very small amount of NO or NO2 that can become N2O). I forget, but this may be a result of the reaction that causes ozone (O3).  I have forgotten if ground level O3 increases warming or decreases it.

Volcanic eruptions and respiration (breathing) are other natural sources, but decay is probably the biggest. Swaps emit methane (CH4) and the ocean stores or releases gases depending on the amount of gas in the air relative to the amount in the ocean.

Other factors that contribute to the greenhouse effect is the albedo (reflectivity) of the landscape.  The less reflective, the more heat from the sun is absorbed and the warmer the surface.  Cloud cover and type can enhance warming or cool things down by reflecting away the sunlight.  The proximity to large water bodies is a factor.  It influences the amount of water in the air and water absorbs a lot of heat, then re-radiates it later.  The amount of aerosols in the air (salt spray, SO2  and particle matter effect reflectivity and how much heat is absorbed.

Deforestation changes the landscape so sunlight reaches areas that is couldn't before and typically speed up decay of brush and organic matter in the soil.   All landscape changes typically speed up decay of organic material in the soil, not only deforestation.   Deforestation (and all landscape changes) affect albedo (can increase or decrease).  Very important to regional climate is the effect deforestation has on transpiration.  Some scientist think that cutting large forest down can reduce the amount of water in the air enough to reduce regional cloud cover and rainfall.  This idea is very old and I haven't run across anything on it in years, so that line of thinking may have been abandon as scientist researched it.  I haven't been looking specifically for that in recent years. Treat it as speculative unless you find good references.

Areallthenamestaken has a point about water vapor being a greenhouse gas.  You feel the effects when you go outside on a humid day.  Water vapor does not have nearly the radiative forcing capacity of CO2 CH4 or N2O, but it is present in such a large quantity in the atmosphere, it can be significant. It is thought to be a major positive feedback mechanism - increasing CO2 resulting in a warmer atmosphere results in a large increase in H2O the air can hold and more of an increase in temperature.   Decreasing CO2 will decrease temperature and reduces the amount of water the air can hold before it rains.   This is an example of feedback.

Answer 3

Ok avoid the answer above...

Let me demonstrate it is inaccurate:

do you see CO2 peaking in the atmosphere after a major volcano outburst?

http://images.google.nl/imgres?imgurl=ht...

Obviously not...

Answer 4

Greenhouse gases are gases that keep heat in the atmosphere. These include water vapour, carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4).

Natural sources of CO2 include animals as well as volcanic and geological processes. Man-made sources include burning of fossil fuels and cement production.

Natural sources of methane include rotting vegetation, and the digestive processes of wild animals. Man-made sources include farming (rice cultivation and cow farming are the biggest) as well as landfills.

Wood is made mostly of carbon. When you burn forests, they release that carbon (as CO2) into the atmosphere earlier than they naturally would. When you cut down forests, some of the wood is left to rot, which releases methane. In addition, many tropical forests grow on soils containing a large amount of carbon, and this is released as methane after the forest is cleared.

Answer 5

this is a good waay of communication..r u at school?