Water vapor trends is a big subject and so this article is not a comprehensive review – there are a few hundred papers on this subject. However, as most people outside of climate scientists have exposure to blogs where only a few papers have been highlighted, perhaps it will help to provide some additional perspective. [...]
Archive for the ‘Basic Science’ Category
Water Vapor Trends
Posted in Basic Science, Climate History on June 2, 2011 | 22 Comments »
The Mystery of Tau – Miskolczi – Part Five – Equation Soufflé
Posted in Basic Science, Debunking Flawed "Science" on May 15, 2011 | 38 Comments »
In previous articles in this series we looked at a number of issues first in Miskolczi’s 2010 paper and then in the 2007 paper. The author himself has shown up and commented on some of these points, although not all, and sadly decided that we are not too bright and a little bit too critical [...]
The Mystery of Tau – Miskolczi – Part Three – Kinetic Energy
Posted in Basic Science, Commentary, Debunking Flawed "Science" on April 26, 2011 | 123 Comments »
In Part One we looked at the calculation of total atmospheric optical thickness. In Part Two we looked at the claim that the surface and atmosphere exchanged exactly equal amounts of energy by radiation. A thermodynamics revolution if it is true, as the atmosphere is slightly colder than the surface. This claim is not necessary [...]
The Mystery of Tau – Miskolczi – Part Two – Kirchhoff
Posted in Basic Science, Commentary, Debunking Flawed "Science" on April 25, 2011 | 87 Comments »
In Part One we looked at the usefulness of “tau” = optical thickness of the atmosphere. Miskolczi has done a calculation (under cloudless skies) of the total optical thickness of the atmosphere. The reason he is apparently the first to have done this in a paper is explained in Part One. The 2010 paper referenced the [...]
Simple Atmospheric Models – Part Two
Posted in Basic Science on April 7, 2011 | 18 Comments »
In Part One we saw how a very simple energy balance model with some very basic assumptions provided some insight into how the surface and atmospheric temperatures are determined. We assumed that the atmosphere was transparent to solar radiation (radiation less than 4 μm), that the atmosphere was totally opaque to terrestrial radiation (greater than 4 μm), [...]
Simple Atmospheric Models – Part One
Posted in Basic Science on April 5, 2011 | 36 Comments »
Most good textbooks introduce simple models to help the student gain a conceptual understanding. In Elementary Climate Physics, Prof. F.W. Taylor does the same. Now the atmosphere is mostly transparent to solar radiation (shortwave) which is centered around 0.5 μm, and quite opaque to terrestrial radiation (longwave) which is centered around 10 μm. Note that absorptivity is [...]
Find Stuff Out and Book Reviews
Posted in Basic Science, Commentary on February 26, 2011 | 199 Comments »
Reading one good text book on climate science can save 100′s of hours of reading rubbish on the internet. And there is a lot (of rubbish). Well-meaning people without the baggage of any knowledge of the subject writing rubbish, then repeated by other well-meaning people. Text books cost money. But depending on which country you [...]
Heat Transfer Basics – Convection – Part One
Posted in Atmospheric Physics, Basic Science on January 2, 2011 | 36 Comments »
A while ago we looked at some basics in Heat Transfer Basics – Part Zero. Equations aren’t popular but a few were included. As a recap, there are three main mechanisms of heat transfer: conduction convection radiation In the climate system, conduction is generally negligible because gases and liquids like water don’t conduct heat well at all. [...]
Understanding Atmospheric Radiation and the “Greenhouse” Effect – Part One
Posted in Atmospheric Physics, Basic Science on December 23, 2010 | 67 Comments »
This first part considers some elementary points. In the next part we will consider more advanced aspects of this subject. Since 1978 we have had satellites continuously measuring: incoming solar radiation reflected solar radiation outgoing terrestrial radiation To see how we can differentiate the solar and terrestrial radiation, take a look at The Sun and Max [...]
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The Mystery of Tau – Miskolczi – Part Four – Emissivity
Posted in Basic Science, Commentary on May 1, 2011 | 293 Comments »
In Part Two we looked at the claimed relationship ED=AA in Miskolczi’s 2007 paper. Ed = downward atmospheric radiation absorbed by the surface Aa = surface radiation absorbed in the atmosphere I showed that they could not be exactly equal. Ferenc Miskolczi himself has just joined the discussion and confirmed: I think I was the first [...]
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