What are green house gases and examples?

The 4 main gases are (Carbon Dioxide, Nitrous oxide, water vapor and methane)

These are gases that absorb and emit infrared heat radiating from the earth within a given thermal range

What is the green house effect?

This is when solar radiation passes through the clear atmosphere. Most of the radiation is absorbed by the earth?s surface and warms it. The earth and the atmosphere reflect some of the solar radiation. However the green house gases (Methane, nitrous oxide and carbon monoxide) acts like a ?blanket? trapping the heat and preventing it from escaping from the earth atmosphere. Heat is trapped in the green-houses gases and this heat + the solar radiation that normally warms the earth to an optimum level causes the temperature of the earth to heat up as there is excess heat.

Bleaching of corals

Increased level of green house gases of which one of them is carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide. It reacts with the water vapor in the air forming carbonic acid and mild nitric acid which falls as acid rain. This acid rain increases the acidity of the water making the conditions for the plankton that live in the corals unfavorable. This causes plankton to leave the corals or die due to high acidity that leads to coral bleaching. Also due to much warmer temperatures that are different from the optimum conditions, there are less nutrients for the phytoplankton making them leave.

US pine beetles

Fire suppression lead to more trees surviving. For the pine beetles this was advantageous as there were more trees to feed on. The increased availability increased their population. Due to the increase in pine beetles, they will feed more on the tissue of the trees killing more trees. As they feed on the trees, the beetles respire which increase CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere. After the trees die, they decompose releasing more CO2 into the atmosphere.

Sea level rise/ melting of polar ice caps

The warm temperatures lead to the melting of permanent ice- caps and sheets on land that increases the sea level. Affects low lying countries and  causes unpredictable hurricanes.