Professor Aber, Thank you for the essays. --- Looking at your energy budget diagram, which is the essence to understand the greenhouse effect; you say: " The red down arrow is infrared radiation representing energy absorbed largely by greenhouse gases (including water vapor) in the atmosphere and reradiated from the atmosphere back to the surface – the greenhouse effect." Now its value is equivalent to incoming solar radiation, both 340 W/m2, what you explain as coincidence. But the original diagram you refer to shows a magnitude better identity, 340.4 for incoming solar and 340.3 W/m2 for back radiation. At this level of equality, it is not easy to accept that it is simply by chance. --- There were hypotheses that "Maximum Entropy Production Principle", MEPP, would require to convert all incoming solar radiation (low entropy) to longwave downward radiation (high entropy); a constraint that easily might overdrive the effect of any increase in atmospheric CO2. I am not sure at all that this principle is the correct solution. Just some thoughts.
Professor Aber, Thank you for the essays. --- Looking at your energy budget diagram, which is the essence to understand the greenhouse effect; you say: " The red down arrow is infrared radiation representing energy absorbed largely by greenhouse gases (including water vapor) in the atmosphere and reradiated from the atmosphere back to the surface – the greenhouse effect." Now its value is equivalent to incoming solar radiation, both 340 W/m2, what you explain as coincidence. But the original diagram you refer to shows a magnitude better identity, 340.4 for incoming solar and 340.3 W/m2 for back radiation. At this level of equality, it is not easy to accept that it is simply by chance. --- There were hypotheses that "Maximum Entropy Production Principle", MEPP, would require to convert all incoming solar radiation (low entropy) to longwave downward radiation (high entropy); a constraint that easily might overdrive the effect of any increase in atmospheric CO2. I am not sure at all that this principle is the correct solution. Just some thoughts.