What is the major role of a green- house gas that contributes to temperature rise of the Earth's surface ?

The greenhouse effect is a natural phenomenon where the atmosphere acts like a greenhouse to maintain Earth's temperature. Greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as carbon dioxide and water vapor are largely transparent to incoming short-wave solar radiation, allowing sunlight to pass through and reach the Earth's surface [4]. Once the surface absorbs this energy, it re-emits it as long-wave thermal infrared radiation [5]. Greenhouse gases are opaque to this outgoing long-wave radiation; they absorb the infrared energy and re-emit it in all directions, including back toward the surface [3]. This process traps heat within the lower atmosphere, preventing it from escaping into space and thereby causing a rise in the Earth's surface temperature [4]. Consequently, the major role of a greenhouse gas is to let incoming sunlight pass through while stopping or delaying the escape of outgoing infrared radiation.

Sources

1. [1] FUNDAMENTALS OF PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY, Geography Class XI (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 11: World Climate and Climate Change > Global Warming > p. 96
2. [2] Environment and Ecology, Majid Hussain (Access publishing 3rd ed.) > Chapter 6: Environmental Degradation and Management > Greenhouse Effect and Global Warming > p. 7
3. [4] Environment and Ecology, Majid Hussain (Access publishing 3rd ed.) > Chapter 7: Climate Change > 2. greenhouse gases > p. 9
4. [5] Physical Geography by PMF IAS, Manjunath Thamminidi, PMF IAS (1st ed.) > Chapter 22: Vertical Distribution of Temperature > 22.2. Lapse Rate > p. 295
5. [3] Environment, Shankar IAS Acedemy .(ed 10th) > Chapter 17: Climate Change > Role of Greenhouse Gases > p. 255