A global warming primer

THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT AND GREENHOUSE GASES

The greenhouse effect is real, but trivial. Water is the major greenhouse gas, about four to ten times more effective than CO₂. We cannot give an absolute number because the amount of water vapour in the air varies a great deal. CO₂ is minor (0.04%), and methane even less (0.001%) and very variable with no detectable effect on climate.

So how does the IPCC get a runaway greenhouse effect? They apply an enormous amount of compounding water vapour feedback to a small amount of heating from CO₂.

At their worst, the IPCC models take one degree of heating and turn it into 6.4 degrees.

Emphasis on the greenhouse effect stresses only radiation and usually leads to neglect of other factors, especially convection which uses lots of energy.

Carbon dioxide, CO₂

Carbon dioxide requires extra treatment, as it is the alleged cause of global warming, and the fundamental reason for a carbon tax and calls to "cut the carbon footprint". The ultimate source of CO₂ is volcanic eruption; the sink is limestone, where most of the world's CO₂ is stored. The CO₂ content of the atmosphere has been much greater in the geological past, without catastrophe.

The amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere is a mere 0.04%, and it is indeed increasing, but the increase started long before 1945 when AGW is supposed to start.

The ocean is a huge sink and holds much more CO₂ than the atmosphere. There is an equilibrium between the CO₂ in the ocean and the atmosphere, and if we were somehow able to remove it from the atmosphere the ocean would give out more CO₂ to restore the equilibrium. Although many countries are attempting it, at great expense, the sequestering of CO₂ is pointless.

Cold seas hold more CO₂ than warm seas. Climate alarmists want to cool the world (by preventing global warming), so their policy would add more CO₂ to the ocean, which would increase their second problem of alleged ocean acidification.

Rising CO₂ levels follow temperature rise as recorded in ice cores. If CO₂ caused rising temperature it should be the other way round.

Ocean acidification

To demonise CO₂ again, a false claim is made that human production of CO₂ will cause the oceans to become "acid". The ocean is alkaline, with a pH of about 8.2, and has never been acid in all Earth history, indicated by the preservation of marine limestones. Increasing CO₂ might make the ocean less alkaline but never acid.

Photosynthesis is the basis of life. It is the process whereby plants use H₂O and CO₂ and sunlight to synthesise sugar and other organic molecules. And animals are dependent on plants to provide their energy. If CO₂ gets too low, plant growth shuts down, and the more we take carbon dioxide above that minimum critical level, the safer life on this planet will be. On land and in the sea, living organisms thrive on increased CO₂. The present CO₂ level is 394 ppm and the pre-industrial level 280 ppm. A CO₂ level of 1,000 ppm is the level at which commercial operators like to run their greenhouses and commonly get an increase in crop yield of about 30%.

Both experimental and observational evidence shows increased CO₂ enhances marine life. A favourite diving site in Papua New Guinea called the Bubble Bath has volcanogenic CO₂ streaming through the water, and life flourishes.