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Evidence that the earth’s atmosphere has warmed has become quite compelling, in part because it has been reinforced recently by the development of accurate profiles of average annual temperatures throughout the last 1,000 years. These data, inferred from studies of geological patterns and samples of ice deposits, tree rings, and coral growth elevated levels in the atmosphere of certain gases that prevent heat from radiating back into space.
Early models charting the greenhouse effect were somewhat inconsistent with observed data; they estimated that the increase in the earth’s atmospheric temperature over recent decades should have been higher than the increase observed in actuality, which led opponents to question the validity of the greenhouse theory. But new methods have enabled scientists ice, these scientists have calculated theoretical temperatures for recent decades that are consistent with observed temperatures.
Another question for proponents of the greenhouse theory comes from scientists who have attempted to tie changes in the earth’s atmospheric temperature to variations in solar energy. From observations of cycles in several types of solar phenomena, these scientists have developed models that chart variations in the sun’s heating effects, and the have raised its equilibrium temperature, and that greenhouse gases represent the best explanation of that shift.
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