My take on Global Warming

a reply to: Phage

Eh?

They use radiation sensors, of course. Where are you getting O2 from?

TheRedneck

a reply to: TheRedneck

Where are you getting O2 from?

From every bit of information about satellite temperature sensing. For example:

RSS upper air temperature products are based on measurements made by microwave sounders. Microwave sounders are capable of retrieving vertical temperature profiles of the atmosphere by measuring the thermal emission from oxygen molecules at different frequencies.

www.remss.com...

Not blackbody. O2 microwave emissions.

a reply to: Phage

Um, it's all based on blackbody radiation, mate.

et us now go back to the illustrative spectrum of terrestrial radiation in Figure 7-8 . The integral of the terrestrial emission spectrum over all wavelengths, averaged globally, must correspond to that of a blackbody at 255 K in order to balance the absorbed solar radiation. In our simple greenhouse model of section 7.3.2 , this average is represented by adding the contributions of the emission fluxes from the warm surface and from the cold atmosphere (equation (7.12) ). In the same manner, the spectrum in Figure 7-8 can be interpreted as a superimposition of blackbody spectra for different temperatures depending on the wavelength region ( Figure 7-13 ). In the atmospheric window at 8-12 mm,the atmosphere is only weakly absorbing except for the O3 feature at 9.6 mm. The radiation flux measured by a satellite in that wavelength range corresponds to a blackbody at the temperature of the Earth's surface

acmg.seas.harvard.edu...

a reply to: Phage

O2 seems like a funky way to measure temperature in a coherent fashion?

Won't the measurement be biased by gas distribution or even local humidity?

a reply to: swanne

Um, it's all based on blackbody radiation, mate.

Um. That is not how atmospheric temperatures are derived by satellites.
But it is how radiative forcing values are estimated.

a reply to: Phage

The temperature is usually measured using infrared sensors on board the satellites.

Check out Landsat 8 and the TIRS:

TIRS uses Quantum Well Infrared Photodetectors (QWIPs) to detect long wavelengths of light emitted by the Earth with an intensity depending on surface temperature. These wavelengths, called thermal infrared, are well beyond the range of human vision and while devices for thermal infrared night 'vision' have long been available, QWIPs offered a new lower-cost alternative to conventional infrared technology. QWIPs arrays are designed for sensitivity to specific wavelengths.

The QWIPs design operates on the complex principles of quantum mechanics. Gallium arsenide semiconductor chips trap electrons in an energy state 'well' until the electrons are elevated to a higher state by thermal infrared light of a certain wavelength. The elevated electrons create an electrical signal that can be read out and recorded to create a digital image.

www.nasa.gov...

a reply to: swanne

Yes. Surface temperatures. Not atmospheric temperatures.
They can determine the temperature of the parking lot, but not the air above it.

a reply to: Phage

Right, good point.

Oh, now I get why you're saying "O2".

O2's resonant frequency is microwave, not IR. So to measure temperature in the air, and since the air is full of O2, you've got to switch to a microwave sensor.

Hm, would you by any chance know what satellites are currently doing that? I'd like to take a look at their data.

a reply to: swanne

www.remss.com...
www.nsstc.uah.edu...

Thanks

a reply to: Phage

So the temperature measured is indeed influenced by O2 distribution, even by humidity level?

a reply to: swanne

The temperature is not measured, microwave brightness levels are.
The temperature is derived from those measurements. The models which do the derivation take in account a number of factors, I would think.

a reply to: Phage

Yes, I know it's being measured in brightness; I am just wondering by how much mere phases of water or even gas distribution would influence the measurement.

Notice for instance that water vapour is being detected by the same REMSS you've referred me to:

www.remss.com...

Isn't there a possibility that microwave brightness can be quite misleading of a method to derive atmospheric temperature, since more oxygen in the atmosphere doesn't exactly correlate with higher atmosphere temperatures?

a reply to: Phage

Surface temperatures. Not atmospheric temperatures.

Fair point. I was thinking surface temperatures. Blackbody radiation is how surface temperatures are measured from orbit.

TheRedneck

I agree with you 100%. We have to be great stewards of the planet but this global warming cult is creepy. You can't dispute it, people are too brainwashed. It's dangerous to go against the cult. Really this is a mechanism of control and one more way to suck more money, loosh, et cetera.

a reply to: Doc Holiday

Pluto is, and always will be a planet in my book. And if I ever have kids I will tell them the same!!

So this thread really grew legs and took off running. But I like where it ended up. Learn something new everyday. Someone should make a thread about temps on other planets. I would but not in my wheel house.