Human Influences:
Human activities can influence Earth’s climate by changing either the composition of atmosphere or the albedo of the surface. Changes in the composition of the atmosphere can affect both the transparency of the atmosphere to infrared radiation and the amount of sunlight reflected back to space. Greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and chlorofluorocarbons, make the atmosphere less transparent to infrared radiation, making it more difficult for energy to be radiated back to space. Atmospheric aerosols, such as those resulting from industrial emissions of sulfur dioxide and black carbon, can scatter sunlight back to space or absorb sunlight before it reaches the surface. Changing the characteristics of the surface, such as the changes is surface albedo that can result from changes in land use or land cover, affect the energy balance by changing the amount of sunlight that is reflected back to space.
Human activities can influence Earth’s climate by changing either the composition of atmosphere or the albedo of the surface. Changes in the composition of the atmosphere can affect both the transparency of the atmosphere to infrared radiation and the amount of sunlight reflected back to space. Greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and chlorofluorocarbons, make the atmosphere less transparent to infrared radiation, making it more difficult for energy to be radiated back to space. Atmospheric aerosols, such as those resulting from industrial emissions of sulfur dioxide and black carbon, can scatter sunlight back to space or absorb sunlight before it reaches the surface. Changing the characteristics of the surface, such as the changes is surface albedo that can result from changes in land use or land cover, affect the energy balance by changing the amount of sunlight that is reflected back to space.