giles@ucf-cs.UUCP (Bruce Giles) (11/26/83)
Maybe I've missed something somewhere (although some may claim it is between my ears -- I've still fazed by that ABM discussion :-)), but I am getting somewhat comfused by the greenhouse effect. As I understand it, the earth's atmosphere will pass visible light. (no problems there). The earth (and atmosphere) absorb this light, is heated by same process, and reradiates energy somewhat like a black body (no problems there, either). The atmosphere is now opaque to the IR radiation, so the energy can not be reradiated *directly* back into space. (I'll accept as a working condition; I know in that Florida it is far cooler in the winter when the sky is clear compared to when it is overcast, but there may be other phenomena involved). But -- What keeps the atmosphere *as a whole* from being heated by thermal conduction, convenction (sp?), phase change, -- whatever --, and reradiating this energy from the upper atmosphere? After all, the earth *must* obey the laws of thermodynamics, and if you pour extra energy into the earth, does not that raise the effective temp- erature of the earth as a whole? And will not that cause the earth to act as a slightly warmer black body itself? In other words, are there not indirect ways of reradiating the energy into space, which may affect the weather distributions but *not* the mean tempature? [sidenote -- there was an article in an *Analog* a few months back on this topic, but I felt too many things were left out. Basically, the author seemed to treat the earth as a perfect black body, and I want to see climatic effects taken into account also. Things like changes in the composition of the atmosphere due to a change in the composition of dissolved gases in the seawater.] Bruce Giles decvax!ucf-cs!giles (UUCP) UCF, Dept of Math, Orlando Fl 32816 (Snail)