convection
Chat with our AI personalities
The major process that warms the lower atmosphere is the greenhouse effect. This natural process involves the absorption and re-emission of heat by greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and water vapor, trapping heat in the Earth's atmosphere and causing temperatures to rise.
The lower atmosphere is primarily heated by the sun's radiation. As sunlight enters the atmosphere, it warms the Earth's surface, which then emits heat energy back into the atmosphere. This process creates a temperature gradient, with warmer air near the surface and cooler air at higher altitudes.
The greenhouse effect is the natural phenomenon that warms Earth's lower atmosphere and surface. Greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and water vapor trap heat from the sun, causing the temperature to rise. This process is essential for supporting life on Earth, but human activities have enhanced the greenhouse effect, leading to global warming.
In the lower atmosphere, the main sources of heating are solar radiation absorbed by the Earth's surface and the subsequent release of infrared radiation, as well as the absorption of some of this infrared radiation by greenhouse gases like water vapor and carbon dioxide, which further warms the lower atmosphere through a process known as the greenhouse effect.
The greenhouse effect warms the gases in the atmosphere.
Greenhouse gases trap heat and energy in the Earth's atmosphere by absorbing and re-emitting infrared radiation. This process creates a "greenhouse effect" that warms the planet.