No Carbon Climate Crisis At Current Trace Levels

Planet Earth Cooled By Emission Of Infrared Radiation

Moderated By Clouds & Water Vapor, Not Carbon Dioxide

Overview

Climate science deals with the harsh reality of 174,000 terawatt of solar energy striking Earth's surface & air, minus 29 percent albedo.  The exposure is sustained by the planet cooling itself by means of EM radiation emitted to outer space of a like amount of energy, or about 123,000 terawatt, in the infrared range. The balance may not be perfect at all times, but miraculously we are still around & attempting to comprehend the physical processes involved in keeping the planet's surface suitable to sustain biological life & human civilization.  While ground temperature is maintained at a pleasant avg 288 kelvin=15º C by the atmospheric greenhouse effect, a surprising 255 kelvin satisfies the demand for radiative cooling.  This just happens to be standard air temperature at 5,000 m altitude.   Climate science has assigned a major role to carbon molecules in air.  As these exist currently only at mere trace levels, they are widely considered to be irrelevant for climate in view of the Mass-Action Law that implies that trace components can have only trace effects.  Though this simple fact is familiar to meteorologists, denial by climate scientists, unfortunately, has led to the civilized public being misled.  We dispute unrealistic estimates of important climate effects from carbon dioxide trace gas via an atmospheric feedback mechanism that has been proposed by some climate scientists working with models. 

A related theme is calling for renewable energy sources when in reality hydrogen & hydrocarbons are dissolved plentifully in the Earth's mantle.  This goes back to the primitive solar nebula that gave rise to our solar system.   Unlimited amounts of energetic fuels are available for human consumption to be extracted from mantle rocks through fracking. 

The Greenhouse Effect, Science Basics.

This is a needed tutorial, in view of the debate and propaganda raging world-wide.  We review some of the basic details of climate science, a discipline that deals with the harsh planetary reality of 174,000 terawatt of solar energy radiation striking Earth's surface & air at all times.    

A large fraction is reflected back to space by Earth's 29% albedo.  There remain 123,000 terawatt that are absorbed by planet Earth.  To sustain this enormous exposure, the planet must cool itself, & it does so by re-emitting a like amount of energy back to outer space in the form of infrared (IR) or heat radiation.   

The central issue of the international climate debate concerns the proximate cause of the famous Greenhouse Effect (GHE), whereby atmospheric molecules absorb thermal energy of all sorts,

which they then re-radiate as IR photons.   Half these thermal photons escape to space, the other half is sent down to the ground, a slightly over-simplified picture of the process.   For additional thoughts & details,  cf. the Wikipedia article "Earth's energy budget."   The GHE causes the Earth's surface temperature to be maintained at a pleasant avg of 288 kelvin=15º C.   This also requires involvement of processes of vertical convection in the troposphere (Lacis et al., 2013). 

Of course, global averages hardly give a full picture, as we all know.   Our weather phenomena are highly variable,  both locally & in time, often minute by minute.  In view of the 288K surface GHE,  it is all the more surprising that a global avg of 255K=-18º C satisfies the demand for radiative cooling, which just happens to be the standard air temperature at ~5,000 m altitude,  U.S. Standard Atmosphere, 1976 model,  beneath which altitude lies nearly half of our air, cf. https://www.digitaldutch.com/atmoscalc/

   

This result requires the  Stefan-Boltzmann radiation law (SBL), which states that heat energy flux Q radiated by a black body is proportional to T^4, the fourth power of absolute temperature T in Kelvin.  For  a surface area of A sqm, 

                      Q = σ*A*T^4 W, 

          σ  = 5.670374419 * 10^{-8} *W/ (sqm*K^4), 

the Stefan-Boltzmann constant.   A is the surface area in sqm of the body, and T is its absolute temperature in kelvin.

To achieve the exact correct intensity of IR radiation,   Earth's surface must be kept warm enough though not too warm, which by the SBL formula implies an average temperature of 255 kelvin.

As we next derive, a surprising avg surface temperature of 255K satisfies the demand for infrared radiative cooling.  This happens to be the standard air temperatureat about 5,000 m above sea level.   For quantitative understanding of the role in climate study of radiative cooling & the greenhouse effect, we   consider   the "solar constant,"  or Earth's average total solar irradiance of  1.37 kW/sqm.

 

Given Earth's avg radius (spherical planet)  of 20,000/π km = 6,370,000 m, we determine Earth's cross-section,  the area of our planet's circular disk  D = 127*10^12 sqm.

From this, total solar energy impinging on Earth's surface & atmosphere is estimated at 174 PW  (1 petawatt=1 billion megawatt):

           1.37 kW/sqm} =  1.37 * 10^{-3} MW/sqm

                                    =   174 PW/D

Note S=4*D=A=4*π*R^2 

We subtract the portion of solar energy that is reflected directly and not absorbed,  estimated to be about 29% albedo.   This leaves 123 PW = 0.97 kW/sqm fully absorbed.   Of course, here we have  a somewhat meaningless number.   Sahara sands get as hot as 355 kelvin, radiating into space per sqm 3.8 times as much IR energy as would be the avg.  Deserts in low latitudes do most of our vital radiative cooling for us.  It is a deep mystery that evolution & continued existence of biological life in our world came to be enabled by the SBL temperature & the atmospheric greenhouse effect.

As we can see, the GHE is part of the processes by which our atmosphere reacts to solar heating of the planet & performs the vital task of radiative cooling that thankfully is slowed by the GHE, so we do not freeze even stopped under a heavy cloud cover.  Water ${\rm H}_2{\rm O}$ strongly absorbs IR rays

in the 6.2\  - 7.3\ \textmu m wavelength range, & is the main contributor to the GHE, \vdi. 

We are not dealing with a Carbon Climate Crisis.   Even after 250 years of the world's industrial civilization,  atmospheric carbon molecules, carbon dioxide ${\rm CO}_2$ and methane ${\rm CH}_4$ are only present in trace amounts  and therefore, by the Mass-Action Law,   can have mere trace effects on weather & climate.   A brief clarification on the Mass Action Law:  A few ${\rm CO}_2$ molecules will fail to capture many infrared (IR) photons.    

Climate now is a major economic concern because of the GND, which will wreck our economy.  We cannot operate our vital commercial truck fleets on electrical power.   No carbon crisis exists, no threat to climate at current trace levels.   Similar views were expressed by Petteri Taalas, a Finnish meteorologist,  on September 6, 2019, in the journal Talouselämä,  although he later was forced to retract by the WMO, the international meteorological body, of which he is the Secretary General.   Hydrocarbons are synthesized plentifully in the Earth's mantle from primordial hydrogen & methane.   Affordable electricity does not come from other sources.  Years ago, on Benny Peiser's old  CCNet web forum, he allowed me to discuss the seeping up of petroleum in impact craters from unlimited reserves dissolved in the Earth's mantle dating to the primitive solar nebula, the impacts having fractured the crystalline lithosphere basement rocks of Earth's crust.  Later, petroleum engineers began fracking deep strata where the target shale deposits demarcate shallow basement crust that can be reached fairly easily by oil drilling rigs.   At present,  CO2 is at .04%,  methane CH4 at .0002% by volume.   To thaw Snowball Earth, 639 M years ago in the Neoproterozoic, it took a build-up of 13% CO2 from volcanic emissions when photosynthesis had not yet evolved.  This is true despite during  the 250 yrs of our  Industrial Civilization on this planet we relied heavily on coal & hydrocarbons for fuel.   However, the unfortunate situation exists of a worldwide public campaign,  seeking to reduce consumption of carbon-based fuels.