The author of the greenhouse effect. Mechanism and consequences of the greenhouse effect

Modern civilization has a strong influence on nature. As a rule, it is negative. Deforestation, drainage of swamps and the constant release of a huge amount of harmful substances into the atmosphere is not a complete list of the "virtues" of mankind. Many believe that the same category belongs to the greenhouse effect. Is this really the case?

Historical reference

By the way, who was the author of the greenhouse effect (that is, those who discovered this phenomenon)? Who first described the process and told about its impact on the environment? A similar idea appeared in the distant 1827. The author of the scientific article was Joseph Fourier. In his work he described the mechanisms of climate formation on our planet.

The unusual nature of this work for that time was that Fourier considered the temperature-climatic features of the different belts of the Earth. That's who the author of the greenhouse effect was, who was the first to explain the experience of Saussure.

Saussure's experiment

To be convinced of his conclusions, the scientist used the experience of M. de Saussure, which uses a vessel covered from the inside with soot, the neck of which is covered with glass. De Saussure set an experiment, during which he constantly measured the temperature inside and outside the jar. Of course, it constantly increased in the internal volume. Fourier was the first to explain this phenomenon by the simultaneous action of two factors simultaneously: blocking heat exchange and different permeability of the vessel walls for light rays with different wavelengths.

Its mechanism is quite simple: when the surface temperature increases, the visible light is absorbed, the heat begins to radiate. Since the material perfectly passes visible light, but practically does not conduct heat, the latter accumulates in the inner 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 invented the term itself? Alas, we certainly will not get an answer to this question. In later literature, the phenomenon, which was discovered by Fourier, received 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. After accumulating heat, the Earth practically does not give it away. That's who was the author of the greenhouse effect. But why does this effect occur?

Yes, we described the primitive mechanism of its appearance, but modern science was able to prove that under ordinary conditions, IR rays can still freely extend beyond the planetary atmosphere. How does it happen that the 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 appearance of this phenomenon is facilitated by the following factors:

• Continuous and excessive burning of fossil fuels.
• Every year more and more volumes of industrial gases enter the atmosphere of the planet.
• Forests are constantly being cut down, their areas are being reduced because of fires and degradation of the soil layer.
• Anaerobic fermentation, the release of methane from the bottom of the oceans.

You should know that the main "culprits", which trigger the mechanism of the greenhouse effect, are the following five gases:

• Divalent carbon monoxide, it is also carbon dioxide. The greenhouse effect of 50% is provided at his 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% of methane.

Where do these gases come from? What is their effect?

- Carbon dioxide. It is in large volumes that gets into 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 same function is performed by the constantly accelerating process of desertification of fertile lands.

All this means reducing the amount of vegetation that can effectively absorb carbon dioxide, which in many ways stimulates the greenhouse effect. The causes and consequences of this phenomenon are interrelated: every year, the amount of bivalent carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere grows by approximately 0.5%, which stimulates both further accumulation of excess heat and the processes of vegetation degradation on the planet's surface.

- Chlorofluorocarbons. As we have already said, these compounds provide a greenhouse effect of 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 obsolete. Dangerous and toxic refrigerants contain these substances in huge quantities, and measures to prevent their leakage clearly do not give the expected result. The consequences of their appearance are even more terrible:

• First, they are extremely toxic to humans and animals, and for the flora, the neighborhood with fluoride 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 elevated content of which in the atmosphere implies the term "greenhouse effect". We need to know that in just one hundred years, its volume in the atmosphere of the planet has doubled. In principle, the bulk of it comes from quite natural sources:

• Rice fields in Asia.
• Livestock complexes.
• Systems for cleaning domestic sewage of large settlements.
• When decaying and decomposing organic matter in the depths of bogs, in landfills.

There are reports that emissions of large amounts of methane originate from the depths of the World Ocean. Perhaps this phenomenon is explained by the vital activity of large bacterial colonies, for which methane is the main by-product of metabolism.

It is necessary to especially emphasize the "contribution" to the development of the greenhouse effect on the part of oil producing enterprises: a considerable amount of this gas is emitted into the atmosphere as a by-product. In addition, the ever expanding film of petroleum products on the surface of the World Ocean also contributes to the accelerated decomposition of organic matter, which is accompanied by methane emissions.

- Nitric oxide. In large volumes is formed in the course of many chemical industries. It is dangerous not only for the most active participation in the greenhouse mechanism. The matter is that when combined with atmospheric water this substance forms the most real nitric acid, even in a weak concentration. It is from here that all acid rains start , which have a very negative impact on people's health.

Theoretical scenarios of global climatic perturbations

So what are the global consequences of the greenhouse effect? It is difficult to say 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 of this process:

• Isolation of the gases described above due to man's technogenic activity.
• Emission of CO ₂ due to thermal decomposition of natural hydrocarbons. It is interesting to know that the crust of our planet contains carbon dioxide in 50,000 times more than in the airspace. Of course, this is a chemically bound carbon monoxide.
• Since the main effects 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 is intensified. As a consequence, the permeability of the atmosphere for infrared radiation is even worse.
• The oceans contain about 140 trillion tons of carbon dioxide, which, as the water temperature rises, also begins to be intensively released into the atmosphere, contributing to a more dynamic development of the greenhouse process.
• Falling reflectivity of the planet, which leads to an accelerated accumulation of heat by its atmosphere. This is facilitated by melting glaciers and desertification of land.

What factors slow down the development of 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 drop in temperature, which will slow down the effect of accumulation of greenhouse gases. In addition, for every degree of general warming, the area of cloud cover over the whole 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.

Pay attention: 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 these factors that often contribute to the mitigation of the consequences of this phenomenon. In principle, that is why many scientists believe that the very theme of global warming belongs to the category of quite natural phenomena that have happened regularly throughout the history of the Earth.

The higher the volatility, the more annual precipitation becomes. This causes both the restoration of the marshes and the accelerated growth of the flora, which is responsible for the disposal of surplus carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of the planet. It is also expected that the increased amount of precipitation in the future will contribute to a significant expansion of the area of shallow tropical seas.

Corals, which they inhabit, are the most important utilizers of carbon dioxide. Being chemically bound, it goes to build their skeleton. Finally, if humanity reduces the rate of deforestation even slightly, then their area will recover quite quickly, since the same carbon dioxide is an excellent stimulant 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 slowly enough. And this point of view has many supporters. They believe that the World Ocean, which is a giant energy accumulator, will be able to absorb excess heat for a long time. Perhaps, it will not be one millennium before the climate on the planet really changes radically.

The second group of scientists, on the other hand, is in favor of a relatively rapid variant of catastrophic changes. This problem of the greenhouse effect is now very popular, it is discussed at almost every scientific congress. Unfortunately, there is enough evidence for this theory. 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 completely increased by 100%. In the most pessimistic scenario, it is believed that the planet's temperature by the end of this century may well rise to a record 6.4 ° C.

Thus, in this case, the greenhouse effect in the Earth's atmosphere will simply cause deadly troubles for all the inhabitants of the coastal areas.

A sharp increase in the level of the World Ocean

The fact is that such temperature anomalies are fraught with an extremely sharp and almost unpredictable rise in the level of the World Ocean. For example, from 1995 to 2005. This figure was 4 cm, although the scientists vied with each other that it was not worth waiting for a rise above a couple of centimeters. If everything continues at the same pace, by the end of the 21st century the level of the World Ocean will be at least 88-100 cm higher than the current rate. Meanwhile, about 100 million people on our planet live just at around 87-88 cm above the ocean level.

Reducing the reflectivity of the planet's 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, facilitated by deforestation and desertification.

Many scientists testify that the ice cap at the poles can reduce the overall temperature of the planet by at least two degrees, and the ice that covers the surface of the polar waters strongly inhibits the process of emission of carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere. In addition, in the area of polar ice caps there is generally no water vapor, which significantly stimulates the global greenhouse effect.

All this will affect the world water cycle so much that the frequency of tornadoes, monstrous in their destructive power of hurricanes and tornadoes, will grow several times, which will make it virtually impossible for people to live even in those territories that are very far from the coasts of the oceans. Unfortunately, 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 to 35-40% at once. This is a sad prospect for mankind.

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 farming, the climate will become much softer. Of course, most of the coastal areas (and we have a lot of them) will simply flood.

The third scenario assumes that a short period of temperature rise will be replaced by global cooling. We have already spoken about the slowdown of the Gulf Stream, about the consequences. Imagine that this warm current will completely stop ... Of course, before the events described in the film "The Day After Tomorrow", it will not come to pass, but on the planet it will definitely become much colder. Not for long, though.

Some mathematicians adhere to the theory (modeled, naturally), according to which the greenhouse effect on the 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 also assume that after that the warming will continue, the scenario of which is described in the second variant.

Conclusion

Whatever it was, but good in the forecasts of scientists is not so much. It remains only to hope that our planet is a more complex and perfect mechanism than we imagine. Perhaps, it will be possible to avoid such sad consequences.