From: John Cuccia 

On Sun, 16 Apr 2006 22:13:56 -0500, John Cuccia  wrote:

>On Sun, 16 Apr 2006 20:45:11 -0400, "Geo"
 wrote:
>
>>"John Cuccia"  wrote in message
>>news:jok44212df2r3knvhbnss3hjbstc91h9q4{at}4ax.com...
>>
>>> The ocean is better at retaining heat than the atmosphere, so the
>>> differential will increase.
>>
>>The greenhouse effect is one in which the atmosphere absorbs more of the
>>suns energy so less actually reaches the ground.
>
>No, it reaches the ground (and the oceans).  Greenhouse gasses don't
>absorb the UV radiation emitted by the sun, they absorb the IR
>radiation that the ground and the oceans try to dump back into space.
>
>That is, the sun emits UV radiation that falls on the earth and oceans
>and warms them.  The earth and oceans then try to dump the excess
>heat, but as less energetic IR radiation which is blocked by
>greenhouse gases.  Glass does the same thing.

Here's a better explanation; I was wrong about UV being the primary carrier
of energy from the sun:

http://vathena.arc.nasa.gov/curric/land/global/greenhou.html
Incoming radiation energy from the Sun, mostly visible light, penetrates
the atmosphere and reaches the Earth's surface, where it is partly
absorbed. The heated surface radiates some energy back to space, but at
infrared wavelengths, much longer than visible light. The figure shows the
path of radiation. The greenhouse gases in the atmosphere transmit the
incoming visible light, but stop some of the outgoing infrared, trapping it
between the atmosphere and the surface.

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