Climate Puzzles – Page 2 – Supporting greater understanding around climate science, climate skepticism, and physics

Explanations

Why do some people think the atmospheric Greenhouse Effect violates the Second Law of Thermodynamics?

Some people assert that: The atmospheric Greenhouse Effect “can’t be real because it violates the Second Law of Thermodynamics. As a physicist, I can tell you that this assertion is absolutely wrong...

2022-08-30

Responses

Thunderstorm World: A Simple Climate Model

Climate blogger Willis Eschenbach has suggested that tropical thunderstorms provide a “thermostatic mechanism” that helps to stabilize the temperature of the Earth within a narrow range. He has also offered a procedure for predicting surface temperatures changes in response to increased radiative forcing...

2021-05-16

Explanations

Energy Recirculation and a Layered Radiative Atmosphere Model

I’d like to look at: energy recirculation as a way to conceptualize how energy fluxes between the Earth and its atmosphere can be larger than the incoming flux; and a model of an "atmosphere" consisting of one or more distinct layers which can transfer heat only by radiative heat transfer...

2021-04-17

Responses

Did Nikolov and Zeller prove that atmospheres warm planets only through pressure and not as a result of greenhouse gases?

Comparison of planetary temperatures and predictions from 4 models

Nikolov & Zeller published an empirical formula for the temperature of a planet which depends on atmospheric effects only through pressure. N&Z perceived a problem that wasn’t really there, and found a "solution" that is neither statistically significant nor compatible with the laws of physics...

2021-04-04

Responses

Did Gerlich and Tscheuschner prove there is no atmospheric greenhouse effect?

Earth's heat flows as percent of insolation

Gerlich & Tscheuschner published a paper purporting to prove that there is no such thing as an atmospheric greenhouse effect. Instead, they proved they have no idea what is meant by the “atmospheric greenhouse effect.” Yet, many people believe their conclusions. So...

2021-03-22

Responses

How would you respond to someone who says “Carbon dioxide can’t warm anything to more than -80ºC because its radiation has a wavelength of 15 microns?”

This claim is based on misleading ideas about the significance of comparing the 15-micron primary emission wavelength of CO₂ to the peak emission wavelength of an ideal black-body radiator at a temperature of -80ºC...

2021-03-07

Explanations

What would you say to someone who says “The greenhouse effect can’t be real because the Second Law of Thermodynamics says something cooler can’t raise the temperature of something warmer”?

Sometimes people assert that the “greenhouse effect” can’t be true, because they believe the model involves heat flowing from a cool atmosphere to a warmer Earth’s surface, thereby violating the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Various sources of confusion seem to be present...

2021-03-02