Climate Change Midterm

In summing up the many topics discussed in the first half of Global Climate Change we first need to start with Earth's climate system. Earth is a heat engine, by this I mean that heat comes in the atmosphere of the Earth from the sun, this heat is then moved around creating weather and climate. Both light and heat hit the earth and processes like conduction, convection, and evaporation move heat around. 6% is reflected by the atmosphere, 20% is reflected by the clouds. The remaining heat is distributed around the earth some is absorbed by the land and ocean, around 51%, 7% is used in conduction and rising of air, more is absorbed by clouds and the atmosphere while the rest is radiated back into space.  This is earth's heat engine at work, heat and light are absorbed into the system, redistributed, and sent back out into space. With heat entering Earth's system the greenhouse effect also occurs. This effect happens because some of the heat that enters the Earth's atmosph...