The clouds on Neptune definitely increase/decrease with solar radiation despite receiving 1/900th as much as Earth receives. Surely this finding has no implications for Earth climate.

submitted by iamonlyoneman from phys.org

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[–]iamonlyoneman[S] 5 insightful - 3 fun5 insightful - 2 fun6 insightful - 3 fun -  (7 children)

It's all CO2 and maybe a hint of methane here, comrades. Pay no attention to the physics of other planets the climates of which, unlike ours, are influence by solar activity!

[–]weavilsatemyface 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (6 children)

the climates of which, unlike ours, are influence by solar activity!

Of course the earth's climate is influenced by solar activity. You know that complex systems can have many influences?

The sun's energy is ultimately the source of all of earth's climate, but changes to that climate are driven by many factors, of which CO2 is most significant right now. CO2 alone is not the most important greenhouse gas, water vapour is, but increases in CO2 cause a feedback loop of more evaporation which in turn leads to higher global temperatures.

Variations in solar energy are only tiny, the sun goes through a 22 year cycle of very slight warming and cooling (about 0.1% variation) which over a century or so averages out as no change. When the sun is slightly warmer, we get faster warming on earth, and when it cools again, we get slower warming.

[–]iamonlyoneman[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

If you double the amount of CO2 you don't double the warming. You get a gnat's ass more warming because it's not a linear relationship.

We have literally no grasp on what causes global climate. There is no thermostat, comrade.

[–]weavilsatemyface 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

If you double the amount of CO2 you don't double the warming.

Correct. If warming doubled, we'd all be dead. Global average temperature is 15°C (288 Kelvin), and doubling it would be 303°C (576 Kelvin), far above boiling. We'd all be dead and the oceans would evaporate. The planet would be like Venus.

But nobody says that's what's going to happen from doubling CO2.

We're looking at a much more modest temperature increase of a few degrees, probably about 4°C if we do nothing to control it. That's about the same difference in global temperatures between the last glaciation period, when New York was buried under a mile-high mountain of ice, and now. That's enough to radically shift climate zones and cause geo-political chaos but not enough to boil the oceans.

We have literally no grasp on what causes global climate.

You have literally no grasp of what causes global climate.

The rest of us do. At the simplest level, it's just basic physics.

The sun provides energy. Some of that energy is reflected by clouds, or from the land and ocean. Some is absorbed by the atmosphere, and some by the ocean and land surfaces. The energy absorbed heats the planet, causing it to radiate more heat back out into space, until the planet is at thermal equilibrium -- energy coming in and energy going out are in balance. (Technically, the planet may never quite reach perfect equilibrium due to small fluctuations in solar output, but close enough.)

The major drivers of climate include

  • the sun's output and the distance of the earth from the sun;
  • the albedo of the surface (how much light is reflected back into space);
  • the number and type of clouds, and how high they are in the atmosphere;
  • and the chemical composition of the atmosphere.

Everything else is fine details. The fine details control whether (say) Idaho will be desert or rain forest, but not the over all global temperature.

[–]iamonlyoneman[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

I stopped reading at you doubling the temperature like a literal retarded child.

double the warming

think harder for a while

[–]weavilsatemyface 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I stopped reading at you doubling the temperature

You stopped reading as soon as it became obvious I understand more about climate than you wish to know.

[–]iamonlyoneman[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

do you practice with your katanas in the backyard to maintain secrecy of your power, or do you intimidate the normies by doing it in the front yard?

[–]weavilsatemyface 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Alas, katanas are not legal here. I have to train with a two-by-four.