According to An Inconvenient Truth, what is the role of infrared radiation in global warming?
In the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," the role of infrared radiation in global warming is explained as follows:
Infrared radiation plays a significant role in the Earth's energy balance. When sunlight reaches the Earth, it warms the surface and some of this heat is radiated back into space in the form of infrared radiation. However, certain gases in the Earth's atmosphere, known as greenhouse gases, trap a portion of this outgoing infrared radiation. This trapping effect is often referred to as the greenhouse effect.
Carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases act like a blanket around the Earth, absorbing and re-emitting infrared radiation that would otherwise escape into space. This process keeps the Earth warm enough to sustain life. However, human activities, particularly the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas, have significantly increased the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
As a result, more infrared radiation becomes trapped, leading to an imbalance in the Earth's energy budget. This additional trapped heat raises the overall temperature of the Earth's surface and lower atmosphere, causing global warming. This increase in temperature has various consequences, including rising sea levels, more frequent and severe heatwaves, changes in precipitation patterns, and the melting of polar ice caps.
In summary, the role of infrared radiation in global warming is that it gets trapped by greenhouse gases, leading to the overall heating of the Earth's surface and atmosphere.