I think that there's the notion the the lapse rate between the surface and the tropopause will remain the same, mol. Thus, warming at the surface would cause the altitude of the tropopause to rise. I recall a report which showed that the height of the freezing level in the atmosphere has increased, which would be consistent with an expansion of the atmosphere as the result of an net warming of the air.
E. S. --- [email protected] wrote: > > And what's the tropopause got to do with it? The heat capacity of the > air is essentially zero for periods longer than a few weeks, so if > there's imbalance in W/m2 it's got to a) go into the ocean and b) > it'll be the same right across the atmosphere, or not? > > A few weeks ago I asked about averaging according to 4th powers, but > thinking it through again, as long as the albedo of the Earth stays > the same and solar insolation stays the same, the average temperature > of the Earth determining the outgoing radiation stays the same; what > changes is that the temperature gradient between where the incoming > radiation is absorbed and where it is re-emitted to space goes up. > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
