The Greenhouse Effect and Global Warming,What is it? How does it occur?

Carl N. DrummondDean, College of Arts and Sciences

Science Café, November 30, 2010

The Global Energy BalanceEnergy from the SunTe

rrest

rial R

adia

tion

Sun: 6000K, Q = 3.87 x 10^26 W, S0 = 1367 W/m^2

6000 K

5000 K

4000 K

InfraredU

ltra

vio

let

Wavelength

Inte

nsi

tyThe Sun is

cool !

Max Planck, 1900

Solar Flux

S0 = 1367 W/m^2

A = πr^2

Earth’s Incoming Solar Radiation

SI = S0 πr^2 / 4 πr^2SI = S0 / 4

SI = 342 W/M^2

So what happensto all this energy?

Albedo

The Global Energy Balance

Surface Albedo

Cirrus

0.30.7

Stratocumulus

The Greenhouse Effect Has

Nothing to do with Greenhouses

Water VaporCarbon Dioxide

Sun Earth

Water Gap

CO2

Greenhouse

Venus : 96% CO2, 92 barS0 = 2632 W/m^2Te = 230 KTs = 760 K = 980°FGHE = 530 K

Earth: 0.007% CO2, 1 barS0 = 1367 W/m^2Te = 250 KTs = 288 K = 58°FGHE = 38 K

Mars: 95 % CO2, 0.006 barS0 = 589 W/m^2Te = 220 KTs = 230 K = - 45°FGHE = 10 K

0.77

0.30

0.24 0.12

So what are the facts?

Direct Measurements

Glacial Ice Bubbles

CH2O + O2 → CO2 + H2O

So where will all the CO2 go?

Planting Trees Will Not Help

The Triumvirate of the Global Carbon Cycle

Jacques Joseph Ebelmen(1814 – 1852) Ecole des Mines

Harold C. Urey(1893 – 1981) Univ. of Chicago

Robert A. Berner(1935 – ) Yale

Greenland Ice = 7 m of global sea level

1)Thermal Expansion of Surface Sea Water (2 cm)2)Melting of Alpine Glaciers (2.5 cm)3)Melting of Greenland and Antarctic Ice Caps (2 cm)