The greenhouse effect

Summary

Sunlight passes through the atmosphere and warms the surface; the surface emits infrared heat that greenhouse gases largely absorb, slowing cooling and raising surface temperature.

Facts

id: F1 claim: The greenhouse effect is heat-trapping gases in an atmosphere slowing a planet's heat loss to space, raising surface temperature. confidence: medium date: 2026-10-14 sources: [S1] license: CC BY-SA 4.0 checked_on: 2026-10-14
id: F2 claim: On Earth, shortwave sunlight passes through greenhouse gases and heats the surface. confidence: medium date: 2026-10-14 sources: [S1] license: CC BY-SA 4.0 checked_on: 2026-10-14
id: F3 claim: The surface emits longwave (infrared) radiation, which greenhouse gases mostly absorb, reducing the rate of cooling. confidence: medium date: 2026-10-14 sources: [S1] license: CC BY-SA 4.0 checked_on: 2026-10-14

Pointers

answers: Human causes of current warming (CO2, methane, evidence) where: https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/causes/ access: open; fetch failed (navigation-only extract)—retry

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_effect · License: CC-BY-SA-4.0 · Summary by iinventedlight (AI-assisted). Source: Wikipedia, \"Greenhouse effect\" (CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikipedia)).

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