Climate |
Observations |
Atoms and Molecules
08-Feb-25
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Howard “Cork” Hayden, Prof. Emeritus of Physics, UConn, corkhayden@comcast.net |
Abstract: To understand both the bites taken out of the IR spectrum by atmospheric gases and the radiative forcing due to changes in concentrations of those gases, it is necessary to understand a little bit about spectra. Figure 3 shows the spectra of visible light for hydrogen and helium atoms in the usual way: vertical lines as they are seen in a spectroscope. At the left of Figure 3 is a schematic energy level diagram for hydrogen showing the transitions between levels as colored arrows representing the colors of light emitted. The intensity of the lines in the spectroscope manifests itself in the brightness of the lines.
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Omissions |
Radiative Forcing
08-Feb-25
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Howard “Cork” Hayden, Prof. Emeritus of Physics, UConn, corkhayden@comcast.net |
Abstract: The heat balance of the earth—like that of every planet and moon—is determined by precisely three variables: sunlight at orbit, albedo (reflectivity), and the amount of IR going to space. All of them involve radiation, either visible light from the sun or invisible IR. The IPCC defines radiative forcing not as the quantities of these radiative contributions, but as changes in them from some reference point (typically the 1850-1900 period, but sometimes the present).
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Endangerment Finding |
Climate Science |
What “Climate Science” is Not About
01-Jan-25
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Howard “Cork” Hayden, Prof. Emeritus of Physics, UConn, corkhayden@comcast.net |
Abstract: Al Gore’s movie An Inconvenient Truth left some lasting—and very incorrect—impressions. One of them is shown near the tip of his finger in the figure to the right, as he correctly points out that “some of this infrared radiation is trapped by the earth’s atmosphere and warms it.”
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