Hi, I am trying to understand the greenhouse effect in more detail and stumbled upon this page: http://www.applet-magic.com/atmostemp.htm (beware your eyes, and decrease the font size) It has a derivation using radiation laws for an equation to calculate the temperature profile of the atmosphere: T(x) = [(S/σ)((xmax−x) +1)]1/4 where S is the net energy per unit area received from the Sun, and x the optical path length. Can someone confirm if this is correct?
Now, if I would increase the absorption, so multiplying xmax and x by a factor > 1, the temperature would rise for all x, so this would not lead to a cooling in the upper layers as predicted by the greenhouse effect. Of course, this model does not include the ozone layer (where, as I understand it, the conditions are somewhat reversed). Would it be correct to say that the stratosphere would not cool because of the greenhouse effect if it were not heated in the first place by the UV radiation? I understand that it cools because CO2 (and other greenhouse gases) cool the stratosphere because they increase the emissivity. Is that correct? Oliver (the guy behind http://fermiparadox.wordpress.com/) --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Global Change ("globalchange") newsgroup. Global Change is a public, moderated venue for discussion of science, technology, economics and policy dimensions of global environmental change. Posts will be admitted to the list if and only if any moderator finds the submission to be constructive and/or interesting, on topic, and not gratuitously rude. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/globalchange -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
