The world warmed nearly two degrees Fahrenheit since 1950, but greenhouse gases cannot physically be the cause. Thus, future greenhouse warming is not expected.

JACKSON, WYOMING, UNITED STATES, January 7, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Since 1859, atmospheric scientists have assumed that because greenhouse gases absorb some thermal energy radiated by Earth, they must, in one way or another, make the atmosphere warmer.

“This critical assumption, however, has never been demonstrated in a scientific experiment as explained at JustProveCO2.com,” according to Dr. Peter L. Ward, a geophysicist who worked 27 years with the US Geological Survey. “It turns out that greenhouse gases absorb into their chemical bonds a very small portion of the infrared energy radiated by Earth. This increase in infrared bond energy cannot physically cause a significant increase in air temperature as explained in detail at Physically-Impossible.com.”

Dr. Ward is a respected senior scientist who led a group of 140 scientists, helped develop a major national research program, testified twice before Congress, and chaired a committee at the White House. Since 2006, Ward has worked fulltime in retirement, at his own expense, carefully re-examining all the assumptions made regarding the physics of global warming. He is presenting his results at the 100th annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society in Boston on Tuesday, January 14th in a special symposium on the stratosphere.

“Every day,” Ward explains, “the lower-most atmosphere, known as the troposphere, is heated from below by contact with the sun-warmed surface of Earth while the middle atmosphere, the stratosphere, is heated from above by absorbing ultraviolet radiation from Sun.”

Average global air temperatures decrease with altitude from 59 degrees at Earth’s surface to minus 70 degrees at the tropopause, just above where commercial jetliners fly. The tropopause, 12 miles above the tropics but only 4.3 miles above the poles, is the boundary between the troposphere heated from below and the stratosphere heated from above.

Temperatures in the stratosphere increase with altitude, reaching 28 degrees above zero at the stratopause, the top of the stratosphere 32 miles above Earth’s surface. The highest frequencies, highest energies of sunlight reaching the stratosphere are ultraviolet-C radiation which has enough energy to cause dissociation of oxygen.

When a molecule of oxygen is dissociated, the bond holding the two atoms of oxygen together breaks. The two atoms fly apart at very high velocity. Temperature of air is well-known to be proportional to the square of the average velocity of motion for all atoms and molecules in air. Photochemical dissociation converts bond energy directly and completely into temperature. Atoms of oxygen can recombine and then be dissociated repeatedly as long as ultraviolet-C radiation is available.

“The stratosphere forms a blanket around Earth,” according to Ward, “keeping surface temperatures 59 degrees warmer than if there were no atmosphere.”

A molecule of oxygen can also combine with an atom of oxygen to form ozone. Ultraviolet-B radiation has enough energy to dissociate ozone. Atoms of oxygen can then recombine to form molecules of oxygen or molecules of ozone. This dissociation of oxygen and ozone continues endlessly, heating the ozone layer as long as ultraviolet-B radiation is available.

The ozone layer absorbs most solar ultraviolet-B radiation, protecting us from this very energetic solar radiation that causes sunburn, skin cancer, and mutations. When the ozone layer is depleted, it absorbs less ultraviolet-B radiation, cooling the stratosphere. More ultraviolet-B radiation reaches Earth’s surface where it warms air by dissociating ground-level ozone pollution found primarily in populated and industrialized regions. Ultraviolet-B is completely absorbed by oceans because it penetrates hundreds of feet.

The ozone layer can be depleted when atoms of chlorine reach the lower stratosphere. One atom of chlorine can cause destruction of more than 100,000 molecules of ozone. In the 1960s, humans began manufacturing chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) for use as refrigerants, spray-can propellants, and foam-blowing agents. In 1974, scientists realized that CFCs can be broken down by ultraviolet radiation in the stratosphere, releasing atoms of chlorine.

When the Antarctic ozone hole was discovered in 1985, scientists and political leaders moved quickly to pass the Montreal Protocol, phasing out production of CFCs. Atmospheric concentrations of CFCs stopped increasing in 1993. Ozone depletion stopped increasing in 1995. Global temperatures stopped increasing in 1998. Humans accidentally caused the warming of nearly 1.5 degrees and humans accidentally stopped the increase in warming in the most definitive experiment ever done relating concentrations of gases in the atmosphere to global temperatures. Without the Montreal Protocol, according to Ward, the world would be nearly one degree warmer today.

Basaltic lavas, as seen in Hawaii, emit large amounts of chlorine that can be rapidly convected up into the stratosphere. Global warming of approximately 0.5 degrees followed eruption of basalts from Bárðarbunga volcano in Iceland in 2014, the largest basaltic eruption since 1784.

All changes in global warming can be explained quite precisely by ozone depletion caused by CFCs since 1970 and caused by basaltic lava flows covering hundreds to millions of square miles throughout Earth history. Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, on the other hand, have simply been increasing, showing no direct relationship to the observed changes in temperature trends.

Climate scientists have been convinced for decades that greenhouse-warming theory explains observed global warming. In 1988, they decided to develop a broad consensus in order to convince political leaders to spend trillions of dollars required to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. They have also been under major attack by climate skeptics who appear more motivated by political goals than by science. Climate scientists, therefore, are more reluctant than ever to consider the possibility that greenhouse warming could be mistaken in any way. This is not good science, but it is human nature.

Greenhouse-warming theory is rapidly becoming the most expensive mistake ever made in the history of science—economically, politically, and environmentally.

“Since 2015,” Ward explains with some frustration, “I have been trying to get climate scientists to stop and look at the very clear evidence for why greenhouse-warming theory is mistaken. Most have worked very hard to save humanity from what they view as a major climate crisis. Unfortunately, the longer scientists delay facing up to reality, the more they will be blamed for wasting public funds as explained in detail at WhyClimateChanges.com.

Peter L. Ward
Science Is Never Settled Inc.
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Ozone depletion due to basaltic volcanism or CFCs provides a clear, direct, and sufficient explanation for changes in global warming throughout Earth history.