Energy transfer at the Earth's surface is examined from first principles. The effects on surface temperature of small changes in the solar constant caused by the sunspot cycle and small increases in downward long wave infrared (LWIR) flux due to a 100 ppm increase in atmospheric CO 2 concentration are considered in detail. The changes in the solar constant are sufficient to change ocean temperatures and alter the Earth's climate. The surface temperature changes produced by an increase in downward LWIR flux are too small to be measured and cannot cause climate change. The assumptions underlying the use of radiative forcing in climate models are shown to be invalid. A null hypothesis for CO 2 is proposed that it is impossible to show that changes in CO 2 concentration have caused any climate change, at least since the current composition of the atmosphere was set by ocean photosynthesis about one billion years ago.
The coupled thermal reservoir approach described in Part I is demonstrated by analyzing flux and meteorological data covering a range of thermal reservoir conditions. These include mid latitude ocean thermal storage, the surface flux balance of the Pacific warm pool and the land surface flux balance in S. California. In addition to temperature data, the effects of thermal gradients, flux interaction lengths and the time delay or phase shift between the heating flux and the temperature response are considered. Long term climate trends in weather station minimum meteorological surface air temperature (MSAT) data are also analyzed. For selected California and UK weather stations these follow the regional trends in ocean surface temperature. This allows urban heat island effects and other weather station biases to be investigated. The effect of a 100 ppm increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration on these data sets is shown to be too small to be measured.
A dynamic, coupled thermal reservoir description of the Earth's atmospheric energy transfer processes is presented. Solar heat is stored and released by four coupled reservoirs, the land, the oceans and the upper and lower troposphere. In addition to the temperature, there are three other important parameters need to be considered. The first is the thermal gradient, the second is the interaction length and the third is the time delay or phase shift between the incident flux and reservoir thermal response. The Earth's climate is stabilized by the heat stored in these thermal reservoirs, particularly the oceans and the lower troposphere up to 2 km. Almost all of the downward long wave infrared (LWIR) flux reaching the surface originates in the lower troposphere. The dominant energy transfer process within the troposphere is moist convection. At night, the lower troposphere acts as a thermal blanket that slows the surface cooling. The upper troposphere cools continuously by LWIR emission to space. A change in temperature requires a change in the heat stored in the reservoir that has to be calculated using the heat capacity and the time dependent flux balance. The LWIR flux cannot be separated and used to define a change in ‘average surface temperature’ using blackbody theory.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.