Comprehensive Analytical Study of the Greenhouse Effect of the Atmosphere

Climate change is an important societal issue. Large effort in society is spent on addressing it. For adequate measures, it is important that the phenomenon of climate change is well understood, especially the effect of adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. In this work, a theoretical fully analytical study is presented of the so-called greenhouse effect of carbon dioxide. The effect of this gas in the atmosphere itself was already determined as being of little importance based on empirical analysis. In the current work, the effect is studied both phenomenologically and analytically. In a first attempt of energy transfer by radiation only, it is solved by ideal-gas-law equations and the atmosphere is divided into an infinite number of layers each absorbing and reemitting infrared radiation (surpassing the classical Beer-Lambert analysis of absorption). The result is that the exact structure of the atmosphere is irrelevant for the analysis;we might as well keep the two-box model for any analytical approach. However, the results are unsatisfactory in that they cannot explain the profile of the atmosphere. In a new approach, the atmosphere is solved by taking both radiative as well as thermodynamic processes into account. The model fully fits the empirical data and an analytical equation is given for the atmospheric behavior. Upper limits are found for the greenhouse effect ranging from zero to a couple of mK per ppm CO2. It is shown that it cannot explain the observed correlation of carbon dioxide and surface temperature. This correlation, however, is readily explained by Henry’s Law (outgassing of oceans), with other phenomena insignificant. Finally, while the greenhouse effect can thus, in a rudimentary way, explain the behavior of the atmosphere of Earth, it fails describing other atmospheres such as that of Mars. Moreover, looking at three cities in Spain, it is found that radiation balances only cannot explain the temperature of these cities. Finally, three data sets with different time scales (60 years, 600 thousand years, and 650 million years) show markedly different behavior, something that is inexplicable in the framework of the greenhouse theory.

Signal Analysis of the Climate: Correlation, Delay and Feedback

One of the ingredients of anthropogenic global warming is the existence of a large correlation between carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere and the temperature. In this work we analyze the original time-series data that led to the new wave of climate research and test the two hypotheses that might explain this correlation, namely the (more commonly accepted and well-known) greenhouse effect (GHE) and the less-known Henry’s Law (HL). This is done by using the correlation and the temporal features of the data. Our conclusion is that of the two hypotheses the greenhouse effect is less likely, whereas the Henry’s Law hypothesis can easily explain all effects. First the proportionality constant in the correlation is correct for HL and is about two orders of magnitude wrong for GHE. Moreover, GHE cannot readily explain the concurring methane signals observed. On the temporal scale, we see that GHE has difficulty in the apparent negative time lag between cause and effect, whereas in HL this is of correct sign and magnitude, since it is outgasing of gases from oceans. Introducing feedback into the GHE model can overcome some of these problems, but it introduces highly instable and chaotic behavior in the system, something that is not observed. The HL model does not need feedback.

Analysis of Temporal Signals of Climate

The dynamics of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is analyzed and it is shown that the Pinatubo eruption in 1991 had a noticeable effect on these dynamics. The growth rate slowed down. Moreover, analyzing the year-on-year CO2 growth data, we can see an an-thropogenic footprint, possibly due to the burning of fossil fuels. On top of this anthropo-genic contribution is a natural contribution that is of similar magnitude, and that closely follows the ocean surface temperature (influenced by ENSO, El Ni&ntildeo Southern Oscilla-tion). This latter fact is consistent with the hypothesis of the correlation of global temper-atures and carbon-dioxide in the atmosphere being governed by Henry’s Law, in which carbon dioxide variations are the result of, rather than the cause of, temperature changes. This latter being the so-called “greenhouse effect”, sometimes mentioned as responsible for (anthropogenic) climate changes, and that cannot explain the observed phenomena described here. Similar conclusions are drawn on monthly data of carbon dioxide and temperature as well.

Using an Off-the-Shelf Lock-In Detector for Admittance Spectroscopy in the Study of Plants

We report on the development of an electrical characterization admittance spectroscopy equipment and method based on an off-the-shelf lock-in detector that is cheap and yet highly sensitive. It is concluded that a contacted constant-pressure electrode configuration is preferable. It was further determined that the temperature does not have great impact in the measured values, but relative humidity of air can be important, especially in the constant-gap electrode configuration. In-situ measurements are difficult since the coupling of the plant with the environment is of high importance. Another aspect is the cables;they are important in that they have to be terminated by their characteristic impedance (50 Ω?in our case) to avoid reflections that introduce artificial attenuation and phase shifts in the signal. We introduce a fingerprint plot type to be able to distinguish between various plants and other specimens, and can actually detect the aqueous state of a plant.

Negative Feedback in the Polar Ice System

One of the ingredients of the anthropogenic global warming hypothesis is the existence of large positive feedback in the climate system. An example is polar ice that, once melted, turns into blacker water that will increase radiation absorption and this rein-forces the melting. This causes a run-away scenario with a point of no return. Here it is shown that the polar ice can also have negative feedback aspects, where a melting of polar ice will cause it to reappear.

Carrier multiplication in germanium nanocrystals

Carrier multiplication is demonstrated in a solid-state dispersion of germanium nanocrystals in a silicon–dioxide matrix.This is performed by comparing ultrafast photo-induced absorption transients at different pump photon energies below and above the threshold energy for this process.The average germanium nanocrystal size is approximately 5–6 nm,as inferred from photoluminescence and Raman spectra.A carrier multiplication efficiency of approximately 190%is measured for photo-excitation at 2.8 times the optical bandgap of germanium nanocrystals,deduced from their photoluminescence spectra.