So the first data from the OCO-2 satellite are in from NASA: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/19dec_oco/
http://science.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2014/12/19/splash2.jpg
Clearly this map is not directly comparable to the simulation video posted above:
a) the data...
Bystander - many thanks for your time on this. I too have been hunting for some actual data but am yet to find much. What little I have found (such as this: http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/JCLI-D-11-00262.1) suggests to me that the additional 1 watt / m^2 downward longwave radiation...
Re: my2cts
Thanks for the clarification. Yes - my "top few molecules" comment for representing one side of the argument is I suspect an exaggeration. Its not my understanding but what others have said.
Its this question that I really want to drill down on and get a handle on.
That's exactly my understanding. The downward longwave radiation works to increase the temperature of the ocean skin which increases evaporation, ceteris paribus. The question we hope to answer is whether this process can ever heat the mixed layer or ocean bulk. If changes to DLR are quickly...
To be honest - starting from first principles would help me no end as well. I think I first heard the theory in about 1986 (when I was 10) and have been "studying" it on and off ever since - including specialising in Climatology, and Quaternary Environments for my Geography degree at Oxford in...
Bystander - I hope you don't mind but I'm going to keep posting things that might be relevant as I find them.
I found this article at realclimate.org (generally viewed as being on-message with the IPCC). It won't necessarily help us understand the physics but if it correct it does give us some...
I found the Wozniak 2007 work by the way: http://www.springer.com/cda/content/document/cda_downloaddocument/9780387307534-c2.pdf
I don't know whether its peer reviewed as its from a book rather than a journal. It seems very thorough . . .
That would be extremely helpful and if at any point there are suitable publications that I can go and read rather than have you waste time - please direct me accordingly.
If I may be so bold as to start.
CO2 is a "greenhouse gas" because it is an efficient absorber and emitter of various...
I read that (as well as the other policy posts) before I started posting - and I hear you. I have no agenda other than to understand the physics. I don't know who is right and who is wrong and I don't have any pet theories of my own. As a human being I'd love to think CAGW is bunk because...
Thanks Bystander that makes me feel better but I can't help feel disappointed that certain reputable scientists describe the science as settled. It seems then that comments within CAGW community that the recent plateau / pause / hiatus in global mean atmospheric temperatures might be explained...
I should also add that I'm very much aware that none of the stuff I've read on this is in the peer reviewed literature. Wozniak et al (2013) "Light abosrbtion in sea water" looks like it might be just what I need - but its paywalled . . . any other suggestions would be gratefully received
Heat moves from hot to cold obviously.
To summarise (and no doubt over-generalise!) one side of the argument seems to posit that:
solar radiation heats the ocean, but atmospheric radiation only heats the top few molecules. So increased Downward Longwave Radiation (DLR) is unable to transfer any...