Global Warming - a heads up...
There is a very interesting perspective to Global Warming at
Henry Thornton today:
bq. As far as the earth is concerned, and from a geological perspective, 99% of the earth's mass is hotter than 1000 degrees Celsius, and 1% of the earth's mass cooler than 100 degrees celsius - statistics here.
bq. The temperature of space is about 2.7 degrees Kelvin, or expressed in the Celsius scale, approximately -269 degrees Celsius.
bq. Therefore the net heat loss from the earth to space is enormous, from which space could be thought as an almost infinite heat sink. And fluctuations of this heat source will overwhelm anything that humanity thinks it could contribute.
bq. And why are we not being cooked to a frazzle on the earth's surface by this enormous mass of matter at a temperature greater than 1000 Degrees Celsius underneath us?
bq. Since the temperature gradient between the earth and space is somewhat steep, one wonders about the scientific basis of climate science and the hypothetical construct of anthropogenic CO2 induced global warming, given the overwhelming contribution that the earth's interior makes to the surface temperature of the earth and to space's ability to absorb all this thermal energy.
bq. Given the mass of the solid earth is somewhat greater than that of the atmosphere, of which 0.033 percent is CO2, a simple physics 101 calculation of the heat balance might suggest that the contribution by CO2 to the earth's surface temperature is, for practical purposes, irrelevant.
bq. Are these scientific facts incorporated into the climate models? No, for which self respecting climatologist would study geology - the necessary background for miners of coal, oil, metals and industrial minerals.
Posted by DaveH at December 1, 2004 5:13 PM
Another (overlapping) field that needs to be considered is astrophysics. Specifically, models/data surrounding the formation of the earth and its initial atmosphere/temperature etc.
This doesn't affect some of the saner concerns, but it TRASHES the doomsday scenarios. No, there will not be a 'Day after tomorrow', etc.
In short: The earth was STABLE when it was very hot, very wet, and had an essentially zero oxygen concentration in the atmosphere. What happens when your planet is hot, wet, and rich in CO2 is you have a lot more ferns in Alaska. Temporarily.