Enhanced Greenhouse Effect

• The natural greenhouse effect is the process by which certain gases (such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane and chlorofluorocarbons [CFS]) allow short wave radiation from the sun to pass through the atmosphere but trap an increasing proportion of outgoing long-wave radiation from the earth.
• The natural greenhouse effect leads to the warming of the atmosphere.
• The enhanced greenhouse effect is the increasing amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, as a result of human activities (such as burning fossil fuels and deforestation), and their impact on atmospheric systems including global warming.
• Both the natural greenhouse effect and the enhanced greenhouse effect result in the warming of the atmosphere, but the natural greenhouse effect is necessary for life to exist on earth, while the enhanced greenhouse effect is caused by humans and is linked to the accelerated heating of the earths atmosphere.