What is the relationship between CO2 and global temperatures?

The greenhouse gas known as Carbon Dioxide, or CO2, has a significant impact on Earth's temperatures. The 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 Earth’s atmosphere is known as the greenhouse effect. As CO2 levels and temperatures continue to rise, they interact to intensify the severity of the greenhouse effect and contribute to global warming.

The CO2 output from manmade materials continues to contribute to the rise of CO2 in the atmosphere, which leads to higher temperatures and more and more high-albedo surfaces disappearing.

As long as this cycle continues, Earth's surface temperature will continue to increase.