In a word, no! The greenhouse effect is a natural process whereby certain gases in our atmosphere (water vapor, carbon dioxide and methane for example) retain some of the infrared radiation that is emitted by the Earth. This process maintains the Earth's average surface temperature at about 60 F, making life possible. Without it, the Earth would be too cold for life to have developed here.

This is very difficult to determine. Currently there are different theories as to the level and amount of climate change. Some models predict large changes in rainfall patterns, while other predict small changes. We may expect with increases in rainfall there would be an increase in mosquito numbers and a subsequent increase in mosquito-borne diseases, however this may not be the case. See similar questions...

With recent developments it is now feasible to measure variations in the oxygen content of the atmosphere at the parts per million (ppm) level. Regular measurements of changes in atmospheric oxygen (O2) are currently being made at a number of locations around the world using two independent techniques, one based on interferometry and one based on stable isotope mass spectroscopy. Oxygen measurements can inform us about fundamental aspects of the global carbon cycle. See similar questions...

Effects are already visible in every ecosystem: coral bleaching, changes in flowering seasons, changes in bird and insect and mammal and fish migrations, melting of glaciers, thinning of polar ice caps, disappearance of cloud forests, warming of groundwater, changes in tree ting thickness, etc. See similar questions...

What's in the Working Group I Summary for Policymakers on the Physical Science of Climate Change? (opens new window) What's in the Working Group II Summary for Policymakers on Climate Change Impacts? (opens new window) See similar questions...

These terms are often used to describe the same problem, but actually relate to cause and effect, or problem and consequence. The greenhouse effect is the cause - and global warming and climate change are the consequences. The greenhouse effect causes an accumulation of heat (or energy) in the Earth's atmosphere. The global climate must then adjust to deal with that extra accumulation of energy, and these adjustments result in global warming and climate changes. See similar questions...

Two 19th-century scientists are associated with the discovery that increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere warms the entire planet: French researcher Jean Baptiste Fourier and Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius. Their identification of what came to be called the greenhouse effect (see box at right) applies to both natural and human-produced additions of CO2. See similar questions...

This is a matter of considerable speculation in the climate research community. It is plausible that a warmer earth would produce more and stronger El Ninos. There is some evidence that the earth has warmed over the past two decades, and there is no doubt that El Nino has been much more frequent in that time. See similar questions...

There are always cold spells and warm spells going on in one place or another. But even where weather is cold, what's considered "typical" is changing. For example, the heavy snow that struck Colorado and Kansas at the end of 2006 was actually more characteristic of that area's autumn or spring weather than a typical December. To examine long-term warming, climate scientists look at large areas and longer time periods. The maps below help illustrate the global nature of climate change. See similar questions...

The jury is still out on this. Are we likely to see more El Niños because of global warming? Will they be more intense? These are the main research questions facing the science community today. Research will help us separate the natural climate variability from any trends due to man's activities. We cannot figure out the "fingerprint" of global warming if we cannot sort out what the natural variability does. See similar questions...