Aiden's Atmospheric Allegory

The greenhouse gas known as Carbon Dioxide, or CO2, has a significant impact on Earth's temperatures. T he Earth absorbs energy from solar radiation (or sunlight) and creates infrared radiation (or heat). As the Earth warms, it can usually re-emit that heat back into space through a process known as Albedo. The radiational heat from the sun typically reflects off of "high-albedo" surfaces, such as snow and ice. This process is meant to keep the temperatures on Earth more regulated. However, as CO2 and other greenhouse gases increase in the Earth’s atmosphere, the atmosphere absorbs more infrared radiation, resulting in less heat being re-emitted into space, which, in turn, leads to more heat being trapped within the atmosphere. This leads to an overall rise in temperatures around the globe. As the temperatures rise, high-albedo surfaces on Earth will decrease, while surfaces with lower albedo, like oceans, become more prevalent. The overall rise in temperature in the Eart...