[AndyJackson]

I wish people who don't understand these things would not pontificate on them. The effect of CO2 on re-radiation from the earth to outer space is unarguable. That is not the point. The point is the response of the system to increased generation of CO2.

1. Does it lead to generally higher levels of CO2 or is the CO2 absorbed elsewhere in the system.

2. Is increased CO2 offset by decreases in other atmospheric constituents [water vapor, methane]?

etc.

[Moseley]

"I wish people who don't understand these things would not pontificate on them. The effect of CO2 on re-radiation from the earth to outer space is unarguable. That is not the point. The point is the response of the system to increased generation of CO2.

But the overlooked variable is that hot air rises. When air containing CO2 absorbs heat, it expands and it MOVES. It does not stay in one place.

It has never been tested -- and it would be impossible to test -- the effect of CO2 in the open atmosphere given the reality that when air absorbs heat it ELEVATES to higher altitudes.

The concept of CO2 absorbing heat focuses exclusively on the idea that air containing CO2 remain STATIC as a layer blanketing the Earth's surface.

There is no possibility of examining what happens on a planetary scale when CO2 absorbs heat and then RISES 5, 10, 20 miles above the Earth's surface.

Remember that at only 5.5 miles where passenger jets fly the air is so thin that humans cannot breath and live for any significant length of time.

So how does the heat-trapping quality of CO2 behave when the air containing heat-trapping CO2 rises up to 10 miles above the Earth or 20 miles?

And if one were a scientist, not just a fiction writer wearing a lab coat, how would you TEST this behavior of CO2 at 10 or 20 miles or more above the Earth and the effect on the planetary-wide energy budget?

Not only has this never been tested but it CAN NEVER be tested.... unless you build a laboratory experiment the size of an entire planet.

What if you used a vacuum chamber and reduced the pressure in a chamber to approximate 20 miles above the Earth?

That still would not tell you what happens on a planet-wide scale to the circulation of heat-carrying gases from the Earth's surface up to high altitudes.

[Moseley]

"I wish people who don't understand these things would not pontificate on them. The effect of CO2 on re-radiation from the earth to outer space is unarguable. That is not the point."

If CO2 absorbs heat....

Well, EVERYTHING absorbs heat, doesn't it? I can't think of any substance that does not absorb heat. Nitrogen absorbs heat. Oxygen absorbs heat.

But if CO2 absorb heat at the Earth's surface...

... and then RISES to high altitudes....

... does CO2 not TRANSPORT heat from the Earth's surface to high altitudes?

We have no idea the effect of CO2 on a planet-wide climate system.

It is just as possible that CO2 acts like an air conditioner cooling the Earth by absorbing heat at the Earth's surface, carrying it up to high altitudes, and releasing heat at high altitudes where it goes out into space.