What is an example of the greenhouse effect?

Earth releases or emits thermal radiation, or heat, during the night. This is known as "long wave radiation," which is simply a release of heat.

Clouds absorb longwave radiation that is emitted by Earth, with some of the absorbed energy being re-emitted back to Earth and the remainder being emitted into space. This process is known as cloud cover heat retention.

Similar to how Earth's cloud cover can act as a blanket by trapping heat released into space, greenhouse gases also function in a similar way over a longer period of time because, in contrast to cloud cover, they are constantly present in the atmosphere.

An example of the greenhouse effect is the warming of Earth's atmosphere due to the presence of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapor, which trap heat from the sun and prevent it from escaping into space.