Ken Haapala, SEPP, The Science and Environmental Policy Project: Richard Lindzen’s paper summarizes what we know with reasonable certainty, what we suspect, and what we know is incorrect about climate change, the greenhouse effect, temperature trends, climate modeling, ocean chemistry, and sea level rise. Key parts included: 1) The climate system is never in equilibrium. 2) The core of the system consists of two turbulent fluids interacting with each other and unevenly heated by the sun. 3) The two most important substances in the greenhouse effect are water vapor and clouds, which are not fully understood. 4) A vital component of the atmosphere is water in its liquid, solid, and vapor phases and the changes in phases with immense dynamic consequences. 5) Doubling carbon dioxide, (CO2), creates a 2% disturbance to the normal flow of energy, which is similar to the disturbance created by changes in clouds and other natural features. 6) Temperatures in the tropics have been extremely stable. Temperature differences between the tropics and polar regions are extremely important.
