Can Infrared Radiation Warm the Atmosphere???

In one day the average energy per square meter...
1. From the sun to the earth surface is 200 . (Observed measurements.)
2. From top of the atmosphere to space is 200. (Outgoing must equal incoming.)
3. From the earth surface is 400. (The SB law.)

You are clearly unable to explain this "failure of accounting."

Volcanic vents are already part of the "accounting" of the earth temperature. That explanation doesn't work. The total daily averages are within at least 10% accuracy.

 

So you are observing averages? Your story gets more ridiculous all the time.


2. From top of the atmosphere to space is 200. (Outgoing must equal incoming.)
3. From the earth surface is 400. (The SB law.)[/quote]

If you are talking about a black body that generates no heat of its own, then of course incoming must equal outgoing...that isn't the case with the earth...

No...not the numbers that are being found...20 years ago, it was thought that hydrothermal vents were relatively rare...and that is what is reflected in the energy budget...that is no longer the case but the averages haven't been updated...and it is suspected that the number of vents will eventually be an order of magnitude than even the estimate of a million of them that we have today.

 

You seem now to be obsessed with volcanoes. Did you build one for your grade school science fair?

Tell me how much do underwater volcanoes contribute to the earth's warmth, and where does the 400 W/m^2 radiation upward from the earth go. It can't all go to outer space.

 

Nope...just pointing out a source of energy that is heating the oceans and we don't have a clue how much it is being heated by that source.

Again...there is no extra energy...if energy is leaving the earth, it came either from the sun, or from the earth...if you can't identify where it came from, then it is due to our profound lack of knowledge of how energy moves through the system...

 

It doesn't matter what causes the earth to average around 15 C . . .. It just is.

You still are skirting the question: Where does the 400 W/m^2 radiation upward from the earth surface go. It can't all go to outer space.

 

Let me guess...you believe it is magically multiplied and held in place by CO2...and would rather believe that than acknowledge the fact that we really don't know much about how energy moves through the system...or how much energy the earth itself actually emits.

 

I didn't ask what you thought that I thought.

OK. I get it. You don't know or understand radiation physics. It's simple. Warm things radiate. In particular the warm earth radiates 400 W/m^2. It does not all go to outer space. What happens to the rest? Can't you even guess?