Energy Sources, Part A, 30:1–9, 2008

Cooling of Atmosphere Due to CO2 Emission

G. V. CHILINGAR,1 L. F. KHILYUK,1, and
O. G. SOROKHTIN2

1Rudolf W. Gunnerman Energy and Environment Laboratory, University of
Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
2Institute of Oceanology of Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow,
Russia

Abstract

The writers investigated the effect of CO2 emission on the temperature
of atmosphere. Computations based on the adiabatic theory of
greenhouse effect show that increasing CO2 concentration in the
atmosphere results in cooling rather than warming of the Earth’s
atmosphere.

Keywords adiabatic theory, CO2 emission, global cooling, global
warming

Introduction

Traditional anthropogenic theory of currently observed global warming
states that release of carbon dioxide into atmosphere (partially as a
result of utilization of fossil fuels) leads to an increase in
atmospheric temperature because the molecules of CO2 (and other
greenhouse gases) absorb the infrared radiation from the Earth’s
surface. This statement is based on the Arrhenius hypothesis, which
was never verified (Arrhenius, 1896). The proponents of this theory
take into consideration only one component of heat transfer in
atmosphere, i.e., radiation. Yet, in the dense Earth’s troposphere
with the pressure pa 0:2 atm, the heat from the Earth’s surface is
mostly transferred by convection (Sorokhtin, 2001a). According to our
estimates, convection accounts for 67%, water vapor condensation in
troposphere accounts for 25%, and radiation accounts for about 8% of
the total heat transfer from the Earth’s surface to troposphere. Thus,
convection is the dominant process of heat transfer in troposphere,
and all the theories of Earth’s atmospheric heating (or cooling) first
of all must consider this process of heat (energy)–mass redistribution
in atmosphere (Sorokhtin, 2001a, 2001b; Khilyuk and Chilingar, 2003,
2004).

When the temperature of a given mass of air increases, it expands,
becomes lighter, and rises. In turn, the denser cooler air of upper
layers of troposphere descends and replaces the warmer air of lower
layers. This physical system (multiple cells of air convection) acts
in the Earth’s troposphere like a continuous surface cooler. The
cooling effect by air convection can surpass considerably the warming
effect of radiation.

Address correspondence to George Chilingar, Russian Academy of Natural
Sciences, USA Branch, 101 S. Windsor Blvd., Los Angeles, California
90004. E-mail:

[truncated for brevity. See original article]