The Climate Debate in a Nutshell
I look at the Earth with the oceans and air as a single entity obstructing the flow of energy from the sun.
Short wave solar energy hits the Earth, some gets absorbed by Earth, oceans and air and is then radiated out as long wave energy.
In the course of that process heat energy is released around the planet and radiated out with the rest of the electromagnetic energy received from the sun. The shift from short wave to long wave is just like the reduction in voltage as a current passes through a resistor thereby generating heat.
That entire process, taken as a whole, sets the so called equilibrium temperature of the planet.
The air is a contributor to the equilibrium temperature albeit miniscule as against the effect of the oceans.
CO2 is a contributor to the equilibrium temperature albeit miniscule as against the effect of the air.
Human CO2 is a contributor to the portion of the equilibrium temperature provided by CO2 albeit miniscule as against the effect of the rest of the CO2.
The climate scientist Tyndall and his successors upon whom so many now rely was concerned only about human produced CO2 which is but a tiny bit of the natural CO2 which is but a tiny bit of the air which is but a tiny bit of the entire effect. He ignored the oceans completely as do all climate change alarmists to this day.
He is 100% right about that tiny, tiny, tiny bit but 100% wrong about the significance of that tiny, tiny, tiny bit for the equilibrium temperature of the planet.
That is why all attempts to date at modelling the climate have failed and they will continue to fail for the foreseeable future until we know a great deal more about the oceans.
That’s the clearest and simplest way I can put it.
Published by Stephen Wilde May 15, 2009