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Monday, August 2, 2021

Section 2, The Changing Climate:

"Atmospheric physicist Richard Lindzen is noted for his work in dynamic meteorology, atmospheric tides, ozone photochemistry, quasi-biennial oscillation, and the Iris hypothesis.

Lindzen described the generally accepted view of the earth’s climate system as circulation of two fluids (atmosphere and oceans) interacting with each other and the uneven land, made turbulent by the rotation of the globe

– exposing the fluids and the land to uneven heating by the sun.

(The energy flow from the sun to the earth varies as well.)

The entire system involves fluid dynamics which is not fully understood.

As such, “The fact that these circulations carry heat to and from the surface means that the surface itself is never in equilibrium with space.

There is never an exact balance between incoming heat from the sun and outgoing radiation generated by the Earth.

This is because heat is always being stored in (and released from) the oceans.

Therefore, surface temperature is always varying somewhat.” [EN 2]

After discussing the substantial energy transfers from the phase changes of water, Lindzen brings up the greenhouse effect and states:

“...that the two most important greenhouse substances by far are water vapor and clouds.

Clouds are also important reflectors of sunlight.

“The unit for describing energy flows is watts per square meter.

The energy budget of this system involves the absorption and reemission of about 200 watts per square meter.

Doubling CO2 involves a 2% perturbation to this budget.

So do minor changes in clouds and other features, and such changes are common....”

Lindzen concludes the section by discussing “unforced” natural variation that may take 1,000s of years to appear.

Thus, climate change involves two parts of physics for which we have no comprehensive theories established by physical evidence:
1) fluid dynamics and
2) the greenhouse effect."