Earth ozone layer due to the subsequent conversion of atmospheric into. The ozone layer blocks ultraviolet solar radiation, permitting life on land. Other atmospheric functions important to life include transporting water vapor, providing useful gases, causing small meteors to burn up before they strike the surface, and moderating temperature. This last phenomenon is known as the greenhouse effect: trace molecules within the atmosphere serve to capture thermal energy emitted from the ground, thereby raising the average temperature. Water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone are the primary greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Without this heat-retention effect, the average surface
Runaway greenhouse effect it is not an appropriate description. For example, it has been hypothesized that large releases of greenhouse gases may have occurred concurrently with the Permian–Triassic extinction event or Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum. Other terms, such as "abrupt climate change", or tipping points could be used when describing such scenarios. A hypothetical runaway greenhouse effect on the earth should not be confused with a greenhouse earth, which has happened in several well-known periods. During 80% of the latest 500 million years, the earth is believed to have been in a greenhouse state due to the greenhouse effect, when there were no continental