Greenhouse gases create a natural greenhouse effect without which temperatures on Earth would be an estimated 30 °C (54 °F) lower, so that Earth would be uninhabitable.
The primary greenhouse gases are water vapor, carbon dioxide (CO2), and methane (CH4). Water is the most abundant in the atmosphere by concentration, but it is a short-term greenhouse gas and in a dynamic equilibrium in the atmosphere.
CO2 is a long-term greenhouse gas and, once added to the atmosphere can remain in the atmosphere for hundreds of years.
The increased CO2 in the atmosphere warms the Earth's surface and leads to melting of ice near the poles.
Seen from below, water aerosol clouds absorb infrared radiation and so exert a warming effect.
Increased global water vapor concentration may or may not cause an increase in global average cloud cover.
None of the effects of greenhouse gases are instantaneous.
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