Answer to Question #288004 in Molecular Biology for Studemt

Question

How does a significant increase in green house gases and atmospheric temperature felt affect the activity of photosynthesis

Answer 1

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is an atmospheric constituent that plays several vital roles in the environment. It absorbs infrared radiation in the atmosphere. It plays a crucial role in the weathering of rocks. It is the raw material for photosynthesis and its carbon is incorporated into organic matter in the biosphere and may eventually be stored in the Earth as fossil fuels.

Most of the sun's energy that falls on the Earth's surface is in the visible light portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. This is in large part because the Earth's atmosphere is transparent to these wavelengths (we all know that with a functioning ozone layer, the higher frequencies like ultraviolet are mostly screened out). Part of the sunlight is reflected back into space, depending on the albedo or reflectivity of the surface. Part of the sunlight is absorbed by the Earth and held as thermal energy. This heat is then re-radiated in the form of longer wavelength infrared radiation. While the dominant gases of the atmosphere (nitrogen and oxygen) are transparent to infrared, the so-called greenhouse gasses, primarily water vapor (H2O), CO2, and methane (CH4), absorb some of the infrared radiation.