 Our earth is getting warmer, and this has been predicted by physicists for more than a century! |
There is absolutely no controversy whatsoever among physicists, nor has there ever been, as to the cause of this warming. It depends mainly on the absorptive properties of the carbon dioxide molecule in the infrared. Very detailed calculations taking into account all phenomena that control the earth's temperature fit the observational data almost perfectly. This phenomenon is one of the best understood in all of atmospheric physics.
The planet Venus, which is about the same size and mass as earth, has an almost pure carbon-dioxide atmosphere with a pressure 93 times earth's at the surface, where the temperature is 872 degrees F or 462 degrees C.
The role of atmospheric carbon dioxide in determining the temperature at the earth's surface was pointed out in increasing detail by: Fourier (1824), Pouillet (1838), Tyndall (1859), and Arrhenius (1896)! It's now been clear for about 189 years!!
