Detective work on the real causes of Earth’s temperature changes beginning to bear fruit |
Detective work on the real causes of Earth’s temperature changes beginning to bear fruit
We need to be more rigorous in climate science, a multifaceted and complex field that includes not only terrestrial affects from winds, clouds, volcanoes, and other factors, but influences from the Sun and outer space;
Tom Harris ——Bio and Archives--March 11, 2026
Cover Story | CFP Comments | Reader Friendly | Subscribe | Email Us
The habitual suspect in the three-decade-old trillion-dollar climate heist is, of course, human caused carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. But whether or not the temperature rise we’ve experienced is human caused, it could be that the self-proclaimed detectives in the media and public are being misled. CO2, while having some impact on temperatures as all greenhouse gases do, is apparently like a petty thief stealing from a convenience store while a master thief makes away with millions from the bank. So, the question is: who is the real culprit?
A recent paper, published on July 5, 2025 in the journal Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, “Development and comparison of empirical models for all-sky downward longwave radiation estimation at the ocean surface using long-term observations,” was written mostly by Chinese researchers Peng, J. Jiang, B., et al. The researchers analysed over 30 years’ worth of radiation data (1998-2019) from 65 buoys on the ocean surface. Figure 1 shows the distribution of buoys from which measurements were taken. They discovered that cloud properties rather than CO2 turn out to be the dominant factor in controlling surface longwave radiation, which is the energy that warms the ocean’s surface.
The ocean surface is a key feature to study to understand the air-sea interactions. These........