A greenhouse is made of glass. Heat from the sun is powerful enough to go through the glass. Once inside it bounces off the glass walls, but it is not powerful enough to go out. Therefore, it is trapped inside and raises the temperature of the greenhouse continuously.

Today the Earth's atmosphere behaves like a greenhouse. The sun's energy that bounces off the ground on its way into space gets absorbed by some gases that have this characteristic (to absorb this outgoing, low-energy heat). These gases are CO2 and methane ("greenhouse gases").

The air used to have low amount of CO2. Since the start of the industrial revolution that introduced fossil-fuelled engines of all kinds the amount has increased tremendously. How?

Fossil fuels are very rich in carbon, nitrogen and sulfur. When they are burned to produce energy they throw out into the air a cocktail of gases the most common being CO2. So we have been polluting the air with great amount of gases, many of them polluting and some deadly. We didn't know that because almost all of the gases are not visible.

The net result is that our atmosphere (which is not endless as we thought it was), but limited in size) is not clean anymore.

Out air is a greenhouse in itself and this effect has given our air tremendous power to throw us endless rain and snow resulting in floods, landslides, powerful hurricanes and tornadoes.

Since people are still using fossil fuels, the heating effect gets worse every day and every year until the planet gets to be lethal for humans and other species.

Suneel Kumar

Greenhouse gases are gases that trap heat in the Earth's atmosphere, leading to the greenhouse effect and global warming. These gases include carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and water vapor [1,2,3].

Human activities, such as burning fossil fuels, have led to an increase in the concentration of these gases in the atmosphere, disrupting Earth's energy balance and causing temperatures to rise [1,4].

Carbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas emitted through human activities, accounting for 79% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2021 [2].

Fluorinated gases, which are synthetic and have a high global warming potential, are also potent greenhouse gases [2,3].

The warming effects of greenhouse gases persist over a long time and can affect both present and future generations [5].

REF.:

[1]. FAQ: What is the greenhouse effect? (n.d.). Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet. https://climate.nasa.gov/faq/19/what-is-the-greenhouse-effect/

[2]. Overview of greenhouse gases | US EPA. (2023, October 10). US EPA. https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases

[3]. Climate change: the greenhouse gases causing global warming | News | European Parliament. (n.d.). https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/society/20230316STO77629/climate-change-the-greenhouse-gases-causing-global-warming

[4]. The causes of climate change. (n.d.). Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet. https://climate.nasa.gov/causes/

[5]. Climate change indicators: Greenhouse gases | US EPA. (2023, December 13). US EPA. https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/greenhouse-gases

Let the laws of physics speak for themselves: All gases behave analogue to the gas laws in terms of temperature, pressure and volume. The law of entropy also applies, i.e. the endeavour to achieve the greatest possible disorder.

All gas atoms and molecules (like all substances) with temperatures above absolute zero absorb energy, vibrate and emit energy as infrared radiation. Monoatomic gases (argon) can absorb less energy than polyatomic gases such as N2 and O2 or CO2. The reason lies in the oscillation behaviour. When the gas molecules absorb energy, they heat up, rise and emit the energy again as radiation.

According to the laws of thermodynamics, energetic heat transfer always takes place from hot to cold. All gas components at a certain height are under the same pressure due to the mutual molecular collisions and have the same temperature. A single gas component cannot behave differently. All gas components absorb a small proportion of the infrared radiation from the sun equally, exchange it with each other and emit it into space at night.

Greenhouse gases are a theoretical construct that only exists in some people's minds and for which there is no actual proof. And there never will be. .....

But that doesn't stop anyone from believing in it.

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If you want to understand the climatic goings-on in the atmosphere, you have to look at water vapour. And not as a GHG, but as a gigantic heat transporter via evaporation on the earth's surface combined with a lot of heat absorption and condensation at high altitude with the release of condensation heat into space.

The sun radiates around 438 exajoules onto the earth every hour. Latent heat of around 32,000 exajoules is stored in the water vapour in the atmosphere.

Atmospheric water vapour transport is therefore the most important climatically stabilising factor. If this is disturbed or reduced, the result is a corresponding warming. ...

And it is precisely this process or disruption that takes place, through the massive energy withdrawal by converting the kinetic energy of the air masses into electrical energy! The wind turbines are responsible for this!!!! For this reason, temperature problems occur particularly in zones with many wind turbines (Ferrel cells).

Nobody wants to see this because CO2 has clouded the physical view.

By the way, you don't need a greenhouse effect to explain the temperatures on earth. Humid adiabatic compression of the air mass is sufficient to explain the average temperature of around 15 degrees C.

Dear Manfred Brugger

Very interesting! But can you explain your answer more clearly?

I agree the extra evaporation of the oceans has led into the tremendous energy storage in water vapour in the air. I think there is an awful lot more water vapour (humidity) in the air now than before.

For example, in our area it used to be dry (~30 % average ) for the winter, but since the last 4 -5 years it has settled into the 70 - 80 % range. About half the time the air is filled with water vapour "clouds" with the sun only just visible behind this "curtain". The weather reports call this situation "cloud" and dismiss this entirely new phenomenon.

All this extra water vapour carries this high amount of latent heat which presumably will be released into the air as "heat" warming up the air when it rains.

Best wishes,

Michael

Point 1: The absorption capacity of water vapour in the air is limited. More than 100 % relative humidity is not possible. For this reason, there is no more moisture in the air than before! The latent heat is also unchanged.

Point 2: Check the change in the wind in your region. The water vapour in the air is not the problem, it is the lack of distribution of the water vapour that causes problems.

Dear Manfred Brugger

Thanks for your explanation.

The increase in the water vapour content of the air in my area has been described by many people. One of the immediate effects is that people feel the cold more intensely. "It feels heavy, moist", is the usual comment.

A simple jacket was enough for temperatures like minus 10 degrees C before. Now with heavy winter jackets everyone "feels" the cold and complains.

The ground and the trees are covered with ice, like frozen dew. This is something new.

I wrote to the Environment Canada (responsible for weather observations) about the new phenomenon. They replied that they are aware of it, but declined to produce a new Humidity Factor when they estimate the actual temperature "our skin feels". They already have a Wind Factor to calculate the "felt temperature" during the winter. It is calculated by both air temperature plus wind speed.

During the summer there is a Humidity Index, introduced recently to calculate the "felt temperature" of our skin taking into account air temperature and humidity.

Your point 2, however, describes well the situation in the winter when the air is filled with "humidity clouds" and is stagnant. But this lack of strong wind in the winter was always there. I don't think wind has changed much.

In Europe it is the opposite: more dry periods, diminishing precipitation. It is remarkable that the salinity of the northern Atlantic is rising which causes a lower evaporation while it is stable in the Pacific. In the Panama canal for more than a century half of the fresh water of the Chagres river that flowed in the Atlantic is derived to the Pacific. Is this the cause of the higher salinity of the northern Atlantic and the water cycle and corresponding climate change?

Dear Willy Verhiest

Very interesting to know of these changes in Europe as you reported them.

I am sure there are many changes everywhere due to strange weather patterns. Nearly everyone I talk to can relate to ( just common people, not specialists) weather changes he/she has observed.

Unfortunately, there is no international panel to study the "new weather" patterns worldwide and make predictions (if possible).

It is very important to look at man-made changes in the oceans as they contain at least 95% of the thermal energy of the earth surface. Any change in the chemical composition of the ocean water must have a profound influence on the climate on the continents.