In several recent posts, we’ve been reviewing the provenance of the radiative forcing estimate of about 4 wm-2 and the logarithmic form for estimating climate response to increased CO2 levels. This has led on the one hand to several primary references, including Lacis et al 1981 and, on the other hand, to references to realclimate […]
Over the last week or so, I’ve reported on my efforts to locate the provenance of the functional forms for the relationship between levels of CO2 and other greenhouse gases and temperature. Lubo has also chipped in on the topic from a different perspective proposing a derivation of a log formula from first principles. We’ve […]
Reader DAV raised the following interesting question: The strange thing about 6..3.5 Simplified Equations that gets me is why should CO2, CH4 and N2O have different equational forms? And what would be the physical basis for raising something to the 0.75 or 1.52 power? The whole thing looks ad hoc as if someone was insistently […]
Yesterday I collated IPCC AR3 and AR4 “expositions” of the enhanced greenhouse effect, observing that, in my opinion, they were so baby food as to be essentially useless to a scientist from another discipline. Today I’m going to drill a little deeper in the expositions, going to a 1995 journal comment by Houghton and to […]
A logarithmic relationship between CO2, radiative forcing and direct impact is reported by IPCC and widely relied on. While this may well be a plausible relationship (Lubo, for one, endorses it), it is not easy finding a proof of the relationship. In a recent post, I noted this in connection with IPCC AR1 (1990), where […]
One of the fundamental questions for someone interested in the impact of doubled CO2 is exactly how (1) the greenhouse effect works; and (2) how the “enhanced” greenhouse effect works. AR4 FAQ 3.1 poses the question: I’m going to show their answer to this question in full because the answer does not rise about a […]
In our summary of IPCC AR1 (1990) on radiative forcing, I noted that the logarithmic relationship and 4 wm-2 values were attributed to: Hansen et al (1988), which in turn cited Lacis et al 1981; and Wigley (1987) which is not presently available to me (or to Wigley himself) and appears not to have been […]
As an innocent bystander to the climate debates a couple of years ago, I presumed that IPCC would provide a clear exposition of how doubled CO2 actually leads to 2.5-3 deg C. The exposition might involve considerable detail on infra-red radiation since that’s relevant to the problem, but I presumed that they would provide a […]
Climate Audit 