Green Options

A desert is the perfect place to find water — if you have the right equipment, that is.  Scientists and engineers from NASA’s Langley Research Center have set up camp in the “driest place in the world,” the Chilean desert of Atacama, to deploy an instrument called the Far-Infrared Spectroscopy of the Troposphere (FIRST).  One of only four instruments of its kind in the world, FIRST measures the effect of high altitude water vapor on the Earth’s atmosphere.

FIRST could help researchers more effectively predict changes in the Earth’s climate, since it measures a band of radiation linked to the absorption of water vapor through the greenhouse effect.  This radiation activity is a significant climate factor that may account for half of the Earth’s natural cooling mechanism.  However, while other major factors have been studied from satellites, the technology has not been developed to do so with water vapor.  The FIRST equipment may well live up to its name and deliver our first precisely measurable insights into the effect of water vapor on our climate.

With Congress deep in debate over legislation aimed at the prevention of global warming, and skeptics ramping up their rhetoric, it seemed like a good time to take a step back to some basics — more accurate information is critical here. Step one in figuring in out how we can help in the battle against climate change involves answering questions like “What are the major causes of global warming?”

What causes global warming?

Scientists have understood the greenhouse effect since the early 19th century; the first paper on the topic was published in 1896. Essentially, certain gases trap energy from the sun: according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fourth Assessment Report, greenhouse gases “act as a partial blanket for the longwave radiation coming from the surface. This blanketing is known as the natural greenhouse effect.”

What are greenhouse gases?

Several compounds contribute to the greenhouse effect, including