As the Earth rotates on its own axis, one-half of the Earth is cooling while the other half is warming up.
So the Earth is warming and cooling daily and the temperature is changing 3,600 times every hour in every location all over the world, as there are 3,600 seconds in every hour.
As the Earth is traveling around the Sun in an ellipse at 66,000 miles per hour and is tilted and wobbling as it spins, so the Earth has seasons, as the angle to the Sun varies.
So the temperatures in the spring and summer are usually warmer than in the autumn and winter when temperatures decline.
So there is a massive number of different temperatures over the whole Earth, constantly changing and always in flux.
Does everybody agree that these are facts of everyday experience?
We can see the differing temperatures on CNN and the BBC every day. There is then no one ‘global temperature.’
It is autumn in the Isle of Man. I see that the forecast from Ronaldsway says that tomorrow will start at 5º Celsius and rise to 14º Celsius maximum during the day.
Here we see a typical range of temperatures for the time of year. So temperatures are rising and falling according to the time of day and according to the seasons.
Now since we are not only swinging around the Sun, the whole of our solar system is also part of the Milky Way and the whole lot is in a gigantic spiral, with the result that we have had in the past history of the Earth huge Ice Ages punctuated by warm periods.
Although this is not a fact of direct experience, we can be pretty certain that this is indeed so, geologically speaking. In the present day, we are probably at the end of a warm period. Scientists disagree on this; there is no exact consensus.
Temperatures on the Earth are usually measured by thermometers in weather stations, a louvered box situated at about 5 ft above the ground. Images can easily be Googled.
There are a few thousand weather stations dotted about the Earth, mostly near sea level and very few on mountains at altitude.
As 70% of the surface is water, although there are attempts to make an average, it is simply impossible to arrive at a Global temperature.
There is no one place to put a thermometer. To take an average of something that is in flux is not realistic.
Furthermore, our atmosphere is not 5 ft thick but some 66 miles high to the edge space. We know that the temperature of the atmosphere declines by 2º Celsius for every 1,000 feet of altitude so there are any number of temperatures constantly changing at altitude also.
Nowadays aircraft have monitors aboard so that one can actually see the exterior temperature of around minus 50º Celsius when the plane is at 30,000 feet, and one can also watch the temperature rising as the plane descends to land on the Earth.
Why is it colder at altitude? Why is the air thinner? Everyone knows that if one ascends Snaefell or Mt Everest it gets colder and colder with altitude. Why is that?
Our air is composed of molecules of nitrogen and oxygen which together make up 99% of the atmosphere, while the entire greenhouse gases comprise only 1% and carbon dioxide a mere 0.04% of the whole.
At ground level, the molecules are packed tightly like billiard balls. When the air is warmed by the action of the Sun upon the Earth, hot air rises – that is to say the molecules rise up and separate and grow farther and farther apart.
At 30,000 feet say the molecules are far apart. The question is: What is between the molecules? The answer is nothing, absolutely nothing. The molecules are suspended in a vacuum.
As we all know one cannot heat anything, one can only heat something, which in physics is called mass.
Once we understand together this simple concept we can also see that the much-vaunted greenhouse effect is a non-starter.
What sort of a greenhouse would be full of holes, open to the sky? It would not and could not retain heat. Sure, the greenhouse gases absorb and emit infrared radiation, but then so do humans when they sunbathe.
The idea that carbon dioxide forms some sort of barrier to prevent heat escaping ultimately to outer space cannot realistically be contemplated.
As to the idea that the temperature of the Earth can be manipulated by controlling the emissions of carbon dioxide, this is simply inadmissible.
Furthermore, since carbon dioxide is the food for green plants, which in turn provide oxygen for all mankind and the animal kingdom, all thoughts of burying or hiding carbon dioxide away in the Earth somewhere, or of sucking it out of the atmosphere are just the ravings of suicidally inclined power maniacs.
Are we all agreed?
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Excellent deductive reasoning which completely hammers the carbon dioxide role as a greenhouse gas in our atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth is an open system and this is the focal point of why the planetary climate remains stable through the centuries, varying noticeably only very much longer periods of time due to other forces and planetary processes, like orbit eccentricities and tectonic rearrangements of the landmasses which shift oceanic flow patterns.
An additional factor at plan here, which is somewhat technical to the point that many readers may be unable to relate to it, so writers tend to avoid is the all-important frequency absorption spectrum which is hard principle that applies to every heat-absorbing material in the world. This characteristic specifies to what degree a material, whether solid, liquid or gaseous can be heated and retain thermal energy under general conditions. In our atmosphere, at given pressures and volume, the carbon dioxide at any volume is currently at close to 99 percent of its thermal absorption maximum. This means that any added energy applied to it can only increase its thermal-retaining property by 1 percent or less. Stated in other terms in a different context, thing of pink paint being sprayed upon a white surface. The pink paint sprays on in a light-colored layer at first, but as the spraying continues, most of the original white surface is no longer visible. When only a slight bit of white is still visible, at 99 percent, spraying pink paint all day long and into next year will only serve to make the surface as pink as the pool from which the paint is dawn. Climate alarmists would have us believe that continued application of pink paint will cause this surface to be not only purely pink, but eventually increasingly dark shades of red till it becomes maroon and so forth. Clearly, this reasoning is complete nonsense and completely impossible.
Excellent as usual Anthony,
I’m working on some information and it is in regards to something you missed and also what seems to be purposely buried by the Climatistas. All numbers say 1% Trace gases also termed GH gases and the 99% balance is nitrogen and oxygen. WATER VAPOR is missing. The I.P.C.C. quotes: Water vapour is the most abundant and important greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. The amount of WV runs from 0-4% OF THE ATMOSPHERE. 100 X greater than .04% C02. Go to as I term it the ‘sinsiternet’ (Latin meaning Left) and try and find WV on pie charts. Odd math: 99 + 1 + 4 = 104.
Earth’s Atmosphere is not a GHouse. It is completely open to the vacuum of space. Particulate in the atmosphere of decreasing density with altitude retards the escape of heat from the surface in a regular balance. You might want to refer to the particulate as ABG or TBG: Atmospheric or Temperature Balance Gases. That is an accurate scientific term vs GHouse which is a non-scientific analogy.
Cheers all