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Wednesday, June 27

Greenhouse Effect is a great thing!

The "greenhouse effect" refers to the natural phenomenon that keeps the Earth in a temperature range that allows life to flourish. The sun's enormous energy warms the Earth's surface and its atmosphere. As this energy radiates back toward space as heat, a portion is absorbed by a delicate balance of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere—among them carbon dioxide and methane—which creates an insulating layer. With the temperature control of the greenhouse effect, the Earth has an average surface temperature of 59°F (15°C). Without it, the average surface temperature would be 0°F (-18°C), a temperature so low that the Earth would be frozen and could not sustain life. "Global warming" refers to the rise in the Earth's temperature resulting from an increase in heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere.

Image Courtesy:
www.ucsusa.org

8 comments:

  1. Vote for Scott Hetsko:
    http://www.rochesterinsider.com

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  2. i voted for scott hetsko!

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  3. Now that's science! By the way, I really dig John Stehlin being back on the morning show. Where's he been?

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  4. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  5. I have a question. Today we saw a cloud with what looked like a rainbow either in it or in front of it. What weather effect is this?

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  6. Please see out blog archives on May 30th. We go into detail there as to what you saw on Thursday!

    Scott Hetsko

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  7. Depending on what the exact rainbow looked like, it could have been a sun dog. A sun dog is formed when ice crystals in a cloud refract light, separating it into its primary "rainbow" colors. When this happens, it appears that there is a rainbow within a cloud!

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