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ATMOSPHERIC RADIATIVE FORCING (WARMING EFFECT) OF CARBON DIOXIDE AT ANY CONCENTRATION

Douglas Lightfoot - Orval Mamer
Canada
2014
Energy & Environment
Some explanations of Earth's temperature include just radiation in, radiation out and the outgoing infrared radiation's interaction with carbon dioxide in a cloudless atmosphere. What about all the energy from solar radiation that goes into the major circulation patterns in the atmosphere and oceans? What about the major desalinization of ocean water and transport in the sky to drop on land and support life? What about the energy events of lightning, hurricanes, and tornadoes? All of these are caused by energy from incoming solar radiation. Studying only the interaction of outgoing infrared radiation with CO2 can't be the only factor determining Earth's atmospheric temperature.

The total warming effect of all of the greenhouse gases is 324 W m-2. Thus, CO2 is (8.67/324) = 2.7% of the total. The other greenhouse gases, except for water vapour, account for 0.7%. Therefore, water vapour accounts for (100 – 3.4) ≈ 96% of global warming.

The results of these two independent scientific methods agree and show conclusively that CO2 is a very small part of global warming, and that whatever controls the level of water vapour in the atmosphere controls atmospheric temperature.