91av

The greenhouse effect

By John Gribbin

22 October 1988

91av. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.
Energy and average temperatures, 1880-1988
The build-up of carbon dioxide in the air, 1958-1984

Any change in the weather these days seems to be blamed on warming of the world caused by human activities – the “greenhouse effect”. But although human activities may be upsetting a natural balance, the greenhouse effect is very much a natural feature of the world, and without it we would not be here

THE EARTH is comfortably warm because it is surrounded by a blanket of air. “Comfortably warm” means that the average temperatures on our globe are in the range between 0°Celsius and 100°Celsius where water is liquid. We can see that the atmosphere of the Earth has…

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