As the earth is constantly heated by the sun and we have the law of conservation of energy. Why is the Earth not constantly warming up?

Question

So we have long-term Ice-Ages, but also relatively short term ([https://www.currentresults.com/Environment-Facts/changes-in-earth-temperature.php](https://www.currentresults.com/Environment-Facts/changes-in-earth-temperature.php)).

When the temperature is going down (on average), where does the energy go?

​

PS. I am fully convinced we have climate change, we are the problem, etc. I only care about the ‘scientific’ answer.

In: Earth Science

Answer 1

The sunlight warms up the earth, earth radiates its warmth in infra red, it is also a kind of light, but not visible to you. Luckily our atmosphere is transparant for both visible and some invisible kinds of “light”.. UV for example (on the other end of the spectrum) is mostly blocked, but infrared can and will escape, so our earth radiates its warmth into space.

Now, CO2, methane and other nasty gasses are not transparent for infrared, it reflects it. That is, in a nutshell, the greenhouse effect.