Wood Romances

Back in 2015, Feldman et al published a paper showing observational and empirical validation of the greenhouse effect. They did this in a pretty ingenious way. They set up two RS-80 sensors at two locations and pointed these at the sky to record downwelling longwave radiation (dLWR) at frequencies absorbed and emitted by CO2. They monitored these sites for 10 years and recorded observations under clear-sky conditions, which would isolate dLWR from CO2 in the atmosphere apart from clouds. Their results showed a 0.2 W/m^2 increase in dLWR, and these results confirmed theoretical predictions regarding the greenhouse effect. In their words: The time series both show statistically significant trends of 0.2 W m−2 per decade (with respective uncertainties of ±0.06 W m−2 per decade and ±0.07 W m−2 per decade) and have seasonal ranges of 0.1–0.2 W m−2. This is approximately ten per cent of the trend in downwelling longwave radiation. These results confirm theoretical predictions of the atmosphe...