The radiative transfer model for the greenhouse effect

• Autores: Claude Bardos, Olivier Pironneau
• Localización: SeMA Journal: Boletín de la Sociedad Española de Matemática Aplicada, ISSN-e 2254-3902, ISSN 2254-3902, Vol. 79, Nº. Extra 3, 2022, págs. 489-525
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.1007/s40324-021-00265-y
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• Resumen

  • Radiative transfer is at the heart of the mechanism to explain the greenhouse effect based on the partial infrared opacity of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. In absence of thermal diffusion, the mathematical model consists of a first order integro-differential equation coupled with an integral equation for the light intensity and the temperature, in the atmosphere. We revisit this much studied system from a mathematical and numerical point of view. Existence and uniqueness and implicit solutions of the Milne problem for grey atmospheres are stated. Numerical simulations are given for grey and non-grey atmospheres and applied to calculate the effect of greenhouse gases. In the context of a transparent atmosphere for sunlight, it is found that by doubling the absorption coefficient in the infrared absorption range of CO2 the temperature decreases by 2%. On the other hand, the same changes but in the low infrared range of the sunlight leads to an increase of temperature in the atmosphere. Several computer codes were written to cross-validate the results. The authors conclude that the radiative transfer model without thermal diffusion for an atmosphere transparent to the incident sunlight is not capable of explaining the greenhouse effect due to the greenhouse gases. A decreasing temperature due to an increasing proportion of CO2 has been observed in the high atmosphere (D.W.J. Thomson et al, nature11579). In the lower atmosphere thermal diffusion and convection cannot be neglected and since the absorption coefficient are highly dependent on the temperature, a full ocean–atmosphere–biosphere climate model is required. Hence, driving conclusions from this study on climate change should be cautiously avoided and a review of the hypothesis of the radiative transfer argument commonly found in textbooks should be revisited.