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part 14 is up. New Science 14: Greenhouse Emission Layers — which pipe is the biggest? « JoNova
Figure 1: The four main emission layers and their OLR. Most of the Earth’s OLR is emitted to space through the four pipes shown, where “pipe” is shorthand for the electromagnetic wavelengths at which a type of molecule absorbs and emits, and the associated emissions layer. (The CO2 emissions layer around the center of its blockage at 15 μm is in the lower stratosphere. But averaging by wavelength across the whole CO2 blockage gives an average temperature of about 244 K, corresponding to a height around 7 km. This is in the wings of the blockage, which also happens to be where the main changes due to increasing CO2 are occurring. Hence this depiction.)
Figure 2: The Nimbus emission spectrum over the tropical Pacific Ocean, partitioned approximately into emissions from various layers, ignoring overlaps. Dashed curves represent blackbody radiances at the indicated temperatures in Kelvin. From Petty 2006 [6]Fig. 6.6, via Kaempfer 2011 [7] and Glickstein 2011 [1].
and Joanne Nova's contribution
A rough idea of how much energy is escaping through each pipe, and the average altitudes that the emissions come from. (Note that in the case of CO2 the average emission temperature is about 244 K, which corresponds to a height of 7 km in the troposphere, although the CO2 emissions layer is largely well over 20 km in the stratosphere.)
interesting, but I cannot help but think water is being shortchanged in the overlaps
Figure 1: The four main emission layers and their OLR. Most of the Earth’s OLR is emitted to space through the four pipes shown, where “pipe” is shorthand for the electromagnetic wavelengths at which a type of molecule absorbs and emits, and the associated emissions layer. (The CO2 emissions layer around the center of its blockage at 15 μm is in the lower stratosphere. But averaging by wavelength across the whole CO2 blockage gives an average temperature of about 244 K, corresponding to a height around 7 km. This is in the wings of the blockage, which also happens to be where the main changes due to increasing CO2 are occurring. Hence this depiction.)
Figure 2: The Nimbus emission spectrum over the tropical Pacific Ocean, partitioned approximately into emissions from various layers, ignoring overlaps. Dashed curves represent blackbody radiances at the indicated temperatures in Kelvin. From Petty 2006 [6]Fig. 6.6, via Kaempfer 2011 [7] and Glickstein 2011 [1].
and Joanne Nova's contribution
A rough idea of how much energy is escaping through each pipe, and the average altitudes that the emissions come from. (Note that in the case of CO2 the average emission temperature is about 244 K, which corresponds to a height of 7 km in the troposphere, although the CO2 emissions layer is largely well over 20 km in the stratosphere.)
interesting, but I cannot help but think water is being shortchanged in the overlaps
