In reply to H LV's message of Sun, 13 Sep 2020 23:52:03 -0400: Hi, [snip] >The heat flux from the Earth has been estimated, and she agrees with >the value, but it is way too small to contribute to global warming >according to the standard view of heat and radiation which is why it is >ignored by climatologists.
Her argument appears at first glance to involve the miscalculation of radiation. So how is that supposed to be connected to heating of the oceans from below? I'm not even sure which radiation she is talking about, but I'm assuming she is referring to the Earth as whole, as a radiating body. >However, in her mind heat is _only_ kinetic >energy so it can't be radiated into space unless that radiation is >received by a relatively cooler body in space. The relatively cooler body is space itself. The only incoming energy of any significance is from other nearby bodies, i.e. the Sun, and the Moon, and thousands of orbiting satellites. ;) By far the most significant of these being the Sun (obviously). Note the temperature on the Moon when the thermometer is in shadow. (https://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/ask/168-What-is-the-temperature-on-the-Moon-) This proves that heat can radiate into space quite nicely. Note that the reason it doesn't get even colder is because the Lunar night is about 2 weeks, which isn't long enough for it to cool down any further before the Sun starts heating it up again. The huge difference between day and night on the Moon is because it has no atmosphere. With significant thermal storage, the difference between day and night could make a pretty effective energy source, given the maximum Carnot efficiency of about 76%. >Because space is mostly >empty this mean the internal heat of the Earth can contribute to global >warming rather than escaping into space. It's not because space can't accept the heat, it's because the atmosphere prevents it from escaping, note the difference with the Moon here above. Or for heat added to ocean water from below, because the oceans themselves mix the warm water with cold spreading it out and raising the average temperature a bit. >(Following her logic this could explain why the sun's corona is much hotter >than the surface of the sun.) No it doesn't.
