Modern civilization has a strong influence on nature. Usually negative. Deforestation, drainage of swamps and the constant release into the atmosphere of a huge amount of harmful substances - this is not a complete list of the "virtues" of mankind. Many believe that the greenhouse effect belongs to the same category. Is this really so?
History reference
By the way, and who was the author of the greenhouse effect (that is, those who discovered this phenomenon)? Who first described this process and spoke about its impact on the environment? A similar idea appeared back in 1827. The author of the scientific article was Joseph Fourier. In his work, he described the mechanisms of climate formation on our planet.
The unusualness of this work for that time was that Fourier considered the temperature and climate features of different zones of the Earth. This is who the author of the greenhouse effect was, who for the first time was able to explain the experience of Saussure.
Saussure experiment
To make sure of his conclusions, the scientist used the experience of M. de Saussure, in which a vessel covered with soot inside was used, the neck of which was covered with glass. De Saussure set up an experiment in which he constantly measured the temperature inside and outside the can. Of course, it constantly increased precisely in the internal volume. For the first time, Fourier was able to explain this phenomenon by the combined action of two factors at once: blocking heat transfer and different permeability of vessel walls for light rays with different wavelengths.
Its mechanism is quite simple: when heated, the surface temperature increases, visible light is absorbed, heat begins to radiate. Since the material perfectly transmits visible light, but practically does not conduct heat, the latter accumulates in the internal volume of the vessel. As you can see, the mechanism of the greenhouse effect can easily be justified by every person who studied the standard course of physics at school. The phenomenon is quite simple, but how much trouble it brings to our planet!
The emergence of the term
It is worth knowing that Joseph Fourier is the author of the greenhouse effect in terms of its initial description in the literature. But who coined the term? Alas, we probably will not get an answer to this question. In later literature, the phenomenon that was discovered by Fourier, got its modern name. Today, every ecologist knows the term “greenhouse effect”.
But the main discovery of Fourier was the substantiation of the actual identity of the Earth’s atmosphere and ordinary glass. Simply put, the atmosphere of our planet is perfectly permeable to visible light radiation, but it does not pass it well in the infrared range. Having accumulated heat, the Earth practically does not give it up. That's who the author of the greenhouse effect was. But why does this effect occur?
Yes, we described the primitive mechanism of its appearance, but modern science has been able to prove that under normal conditions, infrared rays can still quite freely go beyond the planetary atmosphere. How is it that natural mechanisms for adjusting the “heating season” fail?
Causes
In general, we described them in sufficient detail at the very beginning of our article. The following factors contribute to the occurrence of this phenomenon:
- Constant and immoderate burning of fossil fuels.
- Every year, more and more industrial gases enter the planet’s atmosphere.
- Forests are constantly being cut down, their areas are being reduced due to fires and soil degradation.
- Anaerobic fermentation, methane emission from the bottom of the oceans.
You should know that the main “culprits” that trigger the greenhouse effect mechanism are the following five gases:
- Bivalent carbon monoxide, aka carbon dioxide. A greenhouse effect of 50% is provided precisely at its expense.
- Carbon compounds of chlorine and fluorine (25%).
- Nitrogen dioxide (8%). Toxic gas, a typical waste of poorly equipped chemical and metallurgical industries.
- Ground-level ozone (7%). Despite its crucial role in protecting the Earth from excessive ultraviolet radiation, it can contribute to the retention of heat on its surface.
- Approximately 10% methane.
Where do these gases get into the atmosphere? What is their effect?
- Carbon dioxide. It is he who in large volumes enters the atmosphere when a person burns fossil fuels. About a third of its excess (above natural) level is due to the fact that a person intensively destroys forests. The constantly accelerating process of desertification of fertile lands performs the same function.
All this means a reduction in the amount of vegetation capable of effectively absorbing carbon dioxide, which in many ways stimulates the greenhouse effect. The causes and consequences of this phenomenon are interrelated: every year the volume of bivalent carbon monoxide released into the atmosphere grows by approximately 0.5%, which stimulates both further accumulation of excess heat and the degradation of vegetation on the planet's surface.
- Chlorofluorocarbons. As we have already said, these compounds provide a greenhouse effect by 25%. The causes and consequences of this phenomenon have been studied for a long time. In the atmosphere, they appear due to industrial production, especially outdated. Hazardous and toxic refrigerants contain these substances in large quantities, and measures to prevent their leakage clearly do not give the expected result. The consequences of their appearance are even worse:
- Firstly, they are extremely toxic to humans and animals, and for flora, the proximity to fluorine and chlorine compounds is not very useful.
- Secondly, these substances can significantly accelerate the development of the greenhouse effect.
- Thirdly, they destroy the ozone layer, which protects our planet from aggressive ultraviolet radiation.
- Methane. One of the most important gases, the increased content of which in the atmosphere implies the term "greenhouse effect". You need to know that in just the last hundred years, its volume in the planet’s atmosphere has doubled. In principle, its bulk comes from completely natural sources:
- Paddy fields in Asia.
- Livestock complexes.
- Domestic sewage treatment systems of large settlements.
- When rotting and decomposing organics in the depths of swamps, in landfills.
There is evidence that emissions of considerable amounts of methane come from the depths of the oceans. Perhaps this phenomenon is explained by the activity of large bacterial colonies, for which methane is the main by-product of metabolism.
It is necessary to emphasize the “contribution” to the development of the greenhouse effect by oil companies: a considerable amount of this gas is released into the atmosphere as a by-product. In addition, the ever-expanding film of petroleum products on the surface of the oceans also contributes to the accelerated decomposition of organics, which is accompanied by methane emissions.
- Nitric oxide. In large volumes is formed in the process of many chemical industries. It is dangerous not only with the most active participation in the greenhouse mechanism. The fact is that when combined with atmospheric water, this substance forms the real nitric acid, even in a weak concentration. It is from here that all acid rain originates , which have an extremely negative effect on people's health.
Theoretical scenarios of global climate disturbances
So what are the global effects of the greenhouse effect? It is difficult to say about this for sure, since scientists are far from an unambiguous conclusion. Currently, there are several scenarios. To develop computer models, many different factors are taken into account that can accelerate or slow down the development of the greenhouse effect. Let's look at the catalysts for this process:
- The evolution of the gases described above due to human activities.
- CO2 emissions due to thermal decomposition of natural bicarbonates. It is interesting to know that the crust of our planet contains 50,000 times more carbon dioxide than in airspace. Of course, we are talking about chemically bound carbon monoxide.
- Since the main consequences of the greenhouse effect are an increase in the temperature of water and air on the surface of the planet, the evaporation of moisture from the surface of the seas and oceans increases. As a result, the permeability of the atmosphere to infrared radiation is even worse.
- The oceans contain about 140 trillion tons of carbon dioxide, which with increasing water temperature also begins to be intensively released into the atmosphere, contributing to a more dynamic development of the greenhouse process.
- The fall in the reflectivity of the planet, which leads to accelerated accumulation of heat by its atmosphere. This is facilitated by the melting of glaciers and desertification of land.
What factors slow down the greenhouse effect?
It is assumed that the main warm current - the Gulf Stream - is constantly slowing down. In the future, this will cause a significant decrease in temperature, which will slow down the effect of the accumulation of greenhouse gases. In addition, for every degree of general warming, the cloud cover over the entire territory of the planet increases by approximately 0.5%, which contributes to a significant reduction in the amount of heat that the Earth receives from space.
Please note: the essence of the greenhouse effect is to increase the overall temperature of the earth's surface. Of course, there is nothing good in this, but it is precisely the above factors that often contribute to mitigating the consequences of this phenomenon. In principle, this is precisely why many scientists believe that the topic of global warming itself belongs to the category of completely natural phenomena that have occurred regularly in the entire history of the Earth.
The higher the evaporation, the greater the annual rainfall. This causes both the restoration of swamps and the accelerated growth of flora, which is responsible for the disposal of excess carbon dioxide in the planet’s atmosphere. It is also assumed that the increased amount of precipitation in the future will contribute to a significant expansion of the shallow tropical seas.
The corals that inhabit them are the most important carbon dioxide utilizers. Being chemically bonded, he goes to build their skeleton. Finally, if humanity at least slightly reduces the rate of deforestation, then their area will recover quite quickly, since the same carbon dioxide is an excellent stimulator for the spread of plants. So what are the possible consequences of the greenhouse effect?
The main scenarios of the future of our planet
In the first case, scientists suggest that global warming will occur rather slowly. And this point of view has many supporters. They believe that the oceans, which are gigantic energy accumulators, will be able to absorb excess heat for a long time. Perhaps more than one millennium will pass before the climate on the planet really changes radically.
The second group of scientists, by contrast, advocates a relatively quick version of catastrophic changes. This problem of the greenhouse effect is currently very popular; it is discussed at almost every scientific congress. Unfortunately, this theory has enough evidence. It is believed that over the past hundred years, the concentration of carbon dioxide has increased by at least 20-24%, and the amount of methane in the atmosphere has increased by 100%. In the most pessimistic version, it is believed that the temperature of the planet by the end of this century may well rise by a record 6.4 ° .
Thus, in this case, the greenhouse effect in the Earth’s atmosphere will cause deadly troubles to all residents of coastal territories.
A sharp increase in sea level
The fact is that such temperature anomalies are fraught with an extremely sharp and almost unpredictable rise in sea level. So, from 1995 to 2005. this figure was 4 cm, although scientists vied with each other to say that you should not wait for a rise above a couple of centimeters. If everything continues at the same pace, then by the end of the 21st century the level of the oceans will be at least 88-100 cm higher than the current norm. Meanwhile, about 100 million people on our planet live just at around 87-88 cm above sea level.
Decrease in reflectivity of a planet surface
When we wrote about the greenhouse effect, the article repeatedly mentioned that it stimulates a further decrease in the reflectivity of the Earth’s surface, which is facilitated by deforestation and desertification.
Many scientists testify that the ice cap at the poles can reduce the global temperature of the planet by at least two degrees, and the ice that covers the surface of the polar waters greatly inhibits the process of emission of carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere. In addition, in the region of polar ice caps there is no water vapor at all, which significantly stimulates the global greenhouse effect.
All this will affect the world water cycle in such a way that the frequency of tornadoes, monstrous in their destructive power of hurricanes and tornadoes will increase several times, which will make it virtually impossible for people to live even in those territories that are very remote from the coasts of the oceans. Unfortunately, the redistribution of water will lead to the opposite phenomenon. Today, droughts are a problem of 10% of the globe, and in the future the number of such regions may well grow immediately to 35-40%. This is a sad prospect for humanity.
For our country, the forecast in this case is much more favorable. Climatologists believe that most of the territory of Russia will be quite suitable for normal agriculture, the climate will become much milder. Of course, most of the coastal territories (and we have a lot of them) will simply flood.
The third scenario assumes that a brief period of temperature increase will be replaced by global cooling. We have already talked about the slowdown of the Gulf Stream, about the consequences. Imagine that this warm current will completely stop ... Of course, things will not come to the events described in the film "The Day After Tomorrow", but it will certainly become much colder on the planet. Not for long, however.
Some mathematicians adhere to the theory (modeled, of course), according to which the greenhouse effect on Earth will lead to the fact that for 20-30 years the climate in Europe will not be any warmer than in our country. They suggest that after this warming will continue, the scenario of which is described in the second version.
Output
Be that as it may, there are not so many good scientists in the forecasts. One can only hope that our planet is a more complex and perfect mechanism than we imagine. Perhaps such sad consequences can be avoided.