The greenhouse effect is a natural phenomenon that warms the Earth by about 33°C. It is caused by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (Table G6). The natural greenhouse effect is currently being enhanced through human activity via the release of additional greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The consensus of the scientific community, voiced through reports written by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), is that this enhancement of the natural greenhouse effect has caused global warming over the last 150 years and that this warming is very likely to accelerate in the future.
A simple explanation of the greenhouse effect is straightforward, although the full mechanics, processes and feedbacks that exist within the climate system are extremely complex. All things with a temperature above −237.16°C (known as absolute zero) emit electromagnetic radiation. A key property of electromagnetic radiation is that the wavelength of this radiation is related to the temperature of...
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Pitman, A.J. (2005). Greenhouse Effect and Greenhouse Gases. In: Oliver, J.E. (eds) Encyclopedia of World Climatology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht . https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3266-8_89
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