Читать книгу Shaped by Snow. Defending the Future of Winter онлайн

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When sun rays enter the earth’s atmosphere, some of the light is reflected by lighter-colored matter, like snow and clouds, but most is absorbed by the oceans, soil, vegetation, and rocks, as well as things like parking lots and infrastructure. The energy from this light is then radiated back out to the atmosphere as infrared heat. Particles in the atmosphere, like carbon dioxide and water molecules, absorb this energy and radiate it in all directions and back toward earth. Known as the greenhouse effect, this phenomenon is what makes our planet warm enough to live on, and is responsible for the abundance of life on earth.

The particles in the air that contribute to this effect are called greenhouse gases. Some particles in the atmosphere react either physically or chemically to the warming, while other particles don’t react. Particles that do react don’t control our climate but rather are controlled by it, and contribute to a feedback system. Particles that don’t react are called forcing gases, and are the most important regarding climate change.