Continuing the Discussion on Climate
The compilation of observations, modeling, impacts, and solutions presented in “Thinking About Climate” (CEP, Feb. 2021, pp. 14–15) that summarize the history, as well as the future we should be heading toward, compelled me to dream up an experiment that may show how accurate the climate models are.
The experiment goes like this:
- All the CO2 in our atmosphere, if concentrated into a thin layer of pure CO2, would be about 10-ft thick.
- Now imagine constructing two pits in the desert, or somewhere with little rainfall. Each pit would be 10-ft deep and 1-acre in area.
- One pit is filled with CO2; the other would contain air.
- Then, cover each pit with an infrared (IR)-transparent sheet of plastic. The pits should be instrumented with temperature, humidity, and gas analyzers. The floors of each pit may need to be lined to prevent underground moisture (another greenhouse gas) from migrating into the pits.
- Then we let the pits warm up and record the data over a few months...
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