{"id":382359,"date":"2025-06-09T17:02:48","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T15:02:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=382359"},"modified":"2025-06-09T17:02:50","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T15:02:50","slug":"gravity-induced-atmospheric-thermostat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=382359","title":{"rendered":"Gravity-induced Atmospheric Thermostat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From Science Matters<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0Ron Clutz<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Michel Thizon published in 2024 a paper explaining why earth\u2019s always variable climate is constrained within a narrow range.  Influence of Adiabatic Gravitational Compression of Atmospheric Mass on the Temperature of the Troposphere.<\/strong><\/a>  Excerpts in italics with my bolds and added images<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ABSTRACT<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The temperature that the Earth\u2019s surface would have without the greenhouse effect, with an atmosphere completely transparent to infrared radiation, or<\/strong> even without an atmosphere<\/strong> at all, is generally estimated at -18\u00b0C.<\/strong> The greenhouse<\/strong> effect is estimated to induce a warming of 33\u00b0C to justify the surface temperature of +15\u00b0C.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To explain this discrepancy, we examine, with the ideal gas law,<\/strong> to which the Earth\u2019s atmosphere obeys with its normal conditions of pressure and temperature, the role that the adiabatic compression of the atmospheric mass subjected to gravity<\/strong> can play. The dimensional analysis of the ideal gas law demonstrates that compression of the atmosphere produces energy<\/strong>, which can be calculated in Joules.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The temperature of the atmosphere near the Earth\u2019s surface is influenced by
its invariable atmospheric mass, solar irradiation and the greenhouse effect.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This calls into question<\/strong> the commonly established Earth\u2019s energy budgets<\/strong> which consider almost exclusively radiative effects<\/strong>, and which deduce a back radiation<\/strong> attributed to the greenhouse effect which is abnormally high<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Earth temperature without atmosphere or greenhouse effects<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Go<\/b>ody et al.<\/strong> estimated the solar energy available to heat, both directly and indirectly, the earth and its atmosphere at an average of 224 W\/m-2 [1]. Applying the Stefan-Boltzmann law they\u00a0assumed<\/strong>\u00a0that the\u00a0Earth radiates as a perfect black body<\/strong>\u00a0in the infrared band at a temperature of 255.5 K (or min 17.6\u00b0C) for the effective emission temperature [2]. These authors noted that this temperature is lower than the average temperature of the Earth\u2019s surface and indicated that\u00a0much of the radiation to space must come from the atmosphere<\/strong>\u00a0rather than from the surface. Goody et al. arbitrarily assigned a value of 1 to the emissivity \u03b5 for the calculation, while Jacquemoud assigned a value of 0.98 [3].<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Hansen<\/strong>, a solar irradiance of 1367 W\/m-2 or generally accepted today 1361 W\/m-2, but varying with solar fluctuations, leads to a surface temperature of 255 K (or min 18\u00b0C), which induces a greenhouse effect of +33\u00b0C [4]  Cotton<\/strong> reported that the emission temperature is -19\u00b0C and the earth temperature is +14\u00b0C, which corresponds to a global greenhouse effect of +33\u00b0C<\/strong> [5]. The global greenhouse effect is also estimated at +33\u00b0C [6-8]<\/em>
.<\/em>
Logically, at -18\u00b0C the surface of the earth without an atmosphere or with an atmosphere totally transparent to longwave radiation and that plays no physical role, without any greenhouse effect, should be entirely frozen and covered with frost over its entire surface. This would result in a high Albedo which could be on the order of 0.5 to 0.9 instead of an albedo of 0.30 or 0.29 generally accepted in its current state<\/strong>. In this situation, instead of the solar energy absorbed by the surface reaching approximately 160 to 168 W\/m-2 (Figure 1) this energy could be on the order of 70 W\/m-2 [9-11]. The Stefan-Boltzmann formula yields a potential surface temperature of approximately -85\u00b0C<\/strong> [2]. Note that at these temperatures the water<\/strong> vapor pressure above ice is infinitesimal and could only generate an infinitesimal greenhouse effect.<\/strong> However, according to Nikolov et al., the effects linked to the atmosphere would bring approximately 90\u00b0C and not 33\u00b0C to the surface at a temperature of 15\u00b0C [12,13]. This would suggest that the global  natural effect of atmosphere could be on the order of 90\u00b0C<\/strong> rather than the 33\u00b0C of the traditional purely radiative approach as reported by almost all the authors.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Global mean energy budget of the Earth<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Many authors<\/strong> have endeavored to establish an overall assessment of the energy flows<\/strong> to which the earth is subjected to justify the surface temperature in an essentially radiative system. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)<\/strong> itself places great emphasis<\/strong> on this in each of its reports. The Figure 1 summarizes the values and differences obtained while Table 1 summarizes the main authors who evaluated this earth assessment over a period of approximatively twenty years.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Figure 1. Range of nine energy balances (minimum\/maximum according to the authors).<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Table 1. Global energy balance of the Earth according to the authors.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The dispersion and imprecision<\/strong> of the results do not allow the effect on surface temperature to be deduced with sufficient accuracy. These budgets must be improved as noted by Lupo et al. [22]<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Effect of atmospheric pressure<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Few authors have mentioned<\/strong> the role that an atmospheric mass subject to gravity could play in temperature<\/strong>. We can nevertheless cite Leroux [23] Jelbring [24], and Chilingar [25] but these authors evoke a potential role of atmospheric pressure on a qualitative<\/strong> level without seeking to calculate and quantify<\/strong> the effects, probably given the difficulty of integrating the atmosphere as a whole. Nikolov et al. clarify the role of atmospheric pressure for several planets<\/strong> through a complex semiempirical iterative approach [11]<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dimensional analysis of the ideal gas law PV=nRT<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ideal gas law PV=nRT<\/strong> is one of the most fundamental laws of physics and applies entirely to the lower troposphere under its usual conditions of pressure and temperature. This universally accepted<\/strong> law, established in 1834 by \u00c9mile Clapeyron, has been perfectly stable for nearly 200 years<\/strong>, which is the case for very few physical laws.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n