How Scary is Global Warming?

Recent empirical data indicates global warming is not the imminent crisis some make it out to be. Christopher Monckton highlights recent trends which buck the U.N. projections.  Of particular importance is the finding that the tropical upper atmosphere is not warming, where it is theorized that warming occurs at three times the surface rate.

Conventional thinking is that greenhouse gases cause high volumes of water vapor in the upper atmosphere which is a major source for warming. However a 35 year study by Dr. G. Paltridge and others indicates otherwise. The study suggests that water vapor is dropping to lower altitudes where it loses its capacity to absorb warmth.

Another 15 year study by Dr. Richard Lindzen suggests the same conclusion.  Lindzen has measured outgoing long wave radiation from the atmosphere with satellites.  The results indicate that more radiation escapes the planet when temperature rises.  It would seem the water vapor effect is exaggerated.

These studies lead Monckton to conclude, “Instead of 6° F warming in response to a doubling of atmospheric CO2 concentration, only 1° F can be expected, because nearly all the radiation that should be trapped in the atmosphere is escaping to space. The scare is truly over.”