The greenhouse effect
is the process by which
radiation from a planet's
atmosphere warms
the planet's surface
to a temperature above
what it would be
without its atmosphere.
If the atmosphere contains
greenhouse gases, they will
radiate energy in all directions.
Part of this radiation
is directed down towards
the surface, warming it.
The intensity of the
downward radiation,
or greenhouse effect,
depends on the atmosphere's
temperature, and on the
amount of greenhouse gases
that the atmosphere contains.
The “greenhouse effect”
is a public relations term
that is unrelated to how
real greenhouses work.
In a real greenhouse,
physical barriers of walls,
glass, and plastic trap the heat.
There are so many problems
with the lack of real science
in the "climate change" field,
which is politicized junk science,
that the misleading name
"greenhouse effect", is not
worth much attention !
The balance of incoming
and outgoing energy
at the top of the
atmosphere determines
Earth’s average temperature.
Greenhouses gases change
that balance by reducing
how much thermal energy
leaves the atmosphere.
Changing the balance causes
global warming, or cooling.
The amount of warming
or cooling is unknown.
There are too many variable
to know the effect of CO2
in the atmosphere.
Closed system lab experiments
suggest the effect is mild.
Actual temperature also suggest
the effect is mild -- in fact,
all the climate change in the
20th century could have had
natural causes, not man made CO2.
"Climate change" consists of
jumping to an unprovable
conclusion, that man made
CO2 levels dominate the
greenhouse effect, and the
average temperature of
our planet.
That false,
unproven
conclusion
is science fraud.
And the claim that the warming
since 1940, is "unprecedented",
is additional science fraud.
CO2 GREENHOUSE EFFECT
Simple closed system lab experiments
show that the greenhouse effect
of water vapor overlaps the
greenhouse effect of CO2.
That's why CO2 will have much less
of a greenhouse effect where the air
contains more water vapor,
and more of an effect
where the air is dry,
( such as at high (cold) latitudes,
during the six coldest months
of the year ).
That warming pattern
has been measured in
the Northern Hemisphere,
which is potential evidence
of greenhouse warming,
but is not measured in the
Southern Hemisphere.
which is potential evidence
against greenhouse warming.
The chart below shows
CO2 has 4 absorption bands
( aka "finger frequencies" )
of different wavelengths,
centered at about 2, 3, 5 and
15 micron wavelengths.
The 2, 3 and 5 micron
wavelength bands
don’t have much effect.
The 15 micron band
is the largest, widest,
and most important.
CO2 ( water vapor too )
absorb and 'scatter'
15μm band
infrared radiation
-- some of the scattering
( or re-radiating )
is back to Earth.
The most obvious result
of the greenhouse effect
has been warmer,
cold season nights
in colder, higher latitude
regions, such as Alaska.
If nights are warmer, then the
average temperature of a
whole day is warmer too.
"Warmer nights
global warming"
has been the most
obvious effect.
The laboratory infrared
spectroscopy chart:
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GREENHOUSE EFFECTS PHYSICS
(1)
The Sun warms the Earth
during the day
( the atmosphere allows
incoming short wave
solar radiation through ).
Most of the solar radiation
is absorbed by the oceans.
The oceans warm
the atmosphere
above them.
(2)
Earth cools during the night
( but the atmosphere blocks
some of the outgoing
long wave infrared radiation )
The atmosphere is transparent
to incoming solar radiation.
But not 100% transparent.
The atmosphere is opaque
to outgoing LW infrared radiation.
But not 100% opaque.
CO2's strongest "greenhouse effect"
is from the first 100 ppm of CO2
in the air, based on lab experiments.
Each additional +100 ppm of CO2
in the air has significantly less effect.
The CO2 greenhouse effect
is said to be logarithmic.
The warming effect from
an additional +100 ppm of CO2
in the air should be small, and
mainly in the coldest,
driest climates,
in the colder months
of the year,
and felt mainly at night.
The greenhouse effect should warm
both poles the most
( however, Antarctica has NOT been warming ).
( however, Antarctica has NOT been warming ).
A narrower temperature range
between the poles, and the tropics,
will cause LESS severe weather,
and that HAS been happening
in the Northern Hemisphere
Examples:
Long-term downtrends
Long-term downtrends
of US hurricanes and tornadoes:
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There's no real science
to prove that adding CO2
to the atmosphere will have
more than a small, harmless
“greenhouse effect”.
But there is a lot of real science
to claim that adding more CO2
to the atmosphere will accelerate
the growth of the "C3" green plants,
used for food by humans and animals.
And that's why it would be logical
to keep adding CO2 to the atmosphere,
until the concentration is double
to triple the current level.
That's the concentration that
greenhouse owners create
inside their greenhouses,
using their CO2 enrichment
systems.
WHAT'S IN EARTH'S
ATMOSPHERE ?
Note:
"ppmv" is
parts per million
by volume.
In an idealized
dry atmosphere:
Nitrogen is 78%
of the atmosphere
or 780,840 ppmv;
Oxygen is 20.9%
or 209,460 ppmv;
Argon is 0.93%
or 9,340 ppmv;
Carbon Dioxide is 0.04%
or 410 ppmv
[carbon dioxide varies
seasonally, and is increasing].
Methane is 0.00018%,
or 1.79 ppmv;
Nitrous Oxide is 0.0000325%,
or 0.325 ppmv;
Ozone is 0 to 0.000007%,
or 0 to 0.07 ppmv.
The greenhouse effect of ozone
is mainly in the upper atmosphere
( the stratosphere ).
Ozone is created naturally by
chemical reactions, involving
solar ultraviolet radiation
( sunlight ) and oxygen
molecules.
Pollution control devices
reduced ozone from
car exhausts.
Methane and nitrous oxide
have too little volume for
much of a greenhouse effect.
Water vapor is H2O
in a gaseous phase.
In a closed system
infrared spectroscopy
lab experiment,
water vapor is
kept very low.
But in the atmosphere
( troposphere )
water vapor is typically
in the 1% to 4% range,
or 10,000 to 40,000 ppmv.
WHAT'S THE
TROPOSPHERE ?
The troposphere is the lowest
layer of Earth's atmosphere.
Most types of clouds are found there.
Almost all weather occurs there.
The troposphere is the wettest layer
of the atmosphere -- the layers above
contain very little moisture.
The boundary between the
troposphere and stratosphere
is called the tropopause.
The troposphere extends upward
to about 10 km ( 6.2 miles or
about 33,000 feet ) above sea level.
The top of the troposphere
is lowest over the poles,
and highest at the equator,
lower in the winter and higher
in the summer.
It can be as high as 20 km
( 12 miles, or 65,000 feet )
near the equator,
and as low as 7 km
( 4 miles, or 23,000 feet )
over the poles in winter.
Liquid water
and water vapor
will freeze out of the air
above the tropopause,
so the concentration
is only about 4 ppm.
THE GREENHOUSE
EFFECT
OF WATER VAPOR
Water vapor is water
in its gaseous state,
instead of liquid
or solid (ice).
Water vapor is invisible.
If you see a cloud,
fog, or mist,
they are liquid water,
not water vapor.
All water vapor
that evaporates
from Earth's surface,
eventually returns
as rain or snow.
Water vapor is
the most important
greenhouse gas,
accounting for
about 90%
of the Earth's
natural greenhouse
effect, which helps
keep us warm.
But when liquid water
is evaporated
to form water vapor,
heat is absorbed.
That helps cool Earth's surface.
Heat is released again when
the water vapor condenses
to form cloud water, that
later becomes precipitation.
When water evaporates from
the surface of the Earth,
it cools the surface.
Because water vapor
is also the atmosphere's
primary greenhouse gas,
water vapor also keeps
Earth's surface warmer
than it would otherwise be.
The surface cooling effect
of evaporation, which creates
water vapor, is stronger than
its greenhouse warming effect.