Sunday
Apr182010
by 
Bishop Hill
Bishop Hill Claes Johnson on AGW postulates
Apr 18, 2010 Climate: other Swedish mathematician Claes Johnson has some interesting criticisms of one of the basic postulates of the AGW hypothesis. The earlier articles he cites seem to be worth checking out too.
Reader Comments (10)
He says:
"A sane engineer would instead use Fourier's Law stating that the heat flow through a window is proportional to the temperature difference inside-outside."
See Soden and Held 2000 pp446-447 for a discussion on the mechanism of the greenhouse effect. It doesn't work like an insulating medium. The density of air varies exponentially with altitude, so if it was simple conduction, the temperature would too. But instead, the air at the top of the troposphere is at -54C and varies linearly down to the surface. What keeps it so cold?
In any case, Stefan's law gives the effective temperature, which has no reason to be similar to the "global average temperature" calculated by a simple weighted mean of thermometers
In other words, effective temperature can go down while "mean temperature" goes up, it's easy to show (as one depends on T^4 and the other on T)
There is a link in the short article to a much longer and much better PDF that is must reading:
http://www.nada.kth.se/~cgjoh/simpleclimate.pdf
Not had time to study Claes' contributions yet, but others following this may also be interested in these clear arguments from the mathematical physicist Lubos Motl:
IPCC figure for climate sensitivity contradicts the basic laws of well understood, well tested physics
and
On the importance of black bodies
IPCC figure for climate sensitivity contradicts the basic laws of well understood, well tested physics
Heck, all you have to do is try out Jack Hughes' Floating Ice in a Tub of Water experiment if you want to show the IPCC doesn't understand Basic Physics.
Bit of a faux pas for a scientist, and a Swedish one at that, to write Celcius...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Celsius
Claes Johnson... really? His "Numerical Solution of Partial Differential Equations by the Finite Element Method" is a classic. Out of print though, maybe because it's somewhat superceded by the "Applied Mathematics: Body and Soul" series. Good stuff -- got them all on my desk. It was time for bed, but oh well, guess I'm going to have to stay up a bit longer and read his stuff. For me, this is about like finding out that Freeman Dyson holds heretical views.
I saw professor Claes Johnson's blog. Very interesting indeed although he gets a little personal when expressing his ideas about Einstein. He does point out some big problems with relativity theory including its inability to resolve the problem of rotating buckets as well as persistance of twin paradox.
Hello professor Johnson. I am a mathematical physicist at Penn State who shares your opinions on AGW. I work on mathematical models based on symmetry for nonperturbative quantum field theory.
I just wrote a note on you at the Climate blog of the New York Times. It may take up to one day to appear here
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/the-changing-communication-climate/
I also attach an open letter to your Environment Minister.
My homages,
Adrian
AN OPEN LETTER
Dear Swedish Environment Minister,
I am now studying Swedish by reading your newspapers. I was sorry to read that you had a horrendously cold winter, with ships caught in the freezing Baltic Sea and roofs collapsing under snow.
I came recently upon the interview last fall with David Miliband, in The Guardian, in which he predicted that, due to human caused global warming, soon alligators will bask in the waters of Sweden.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/07/david-miliband-global-warming-tour
His determination is to be commended, especially knowing that at the time, like now, satellite measurements showed a decade of global cooling.
A relatively sparsely populated country like Sweden can ill afford to lose any of its citizens to rapacious reptiles. The key therefore is preparation and foresight.
As impressed as we are with Mr. Miliband's wit, wisdom and deep understanding of climate science manifested in the above mentioned interview, we, in the US, have serious reservations about his practical knowledge of large amphibians. After all, not many London inhabitants have to deal on a daily basis with crocodiles emerging from sewers.
Not so in Miami, Florida, where such events barely make the news.
Speaking of Miami, which I just visited, the weather there at this time of the year is incredibly pleasant, especially after a long Stockholm winter. Could we tempt you to suggest to the Swedish Government a fact finding tour for you and your ministry to Florida in the near future? A brotherhood pact between Malmö and Miami would guarantee a warm reception and the sharing of urban reptile mitigation techniques.
Why not act right now, as in all matters involving climate?
Did you, for instance, print enough "Crocodile crossing" signs to replace the soon to be obsolete "Reindeer crossing" ones? People who look for tall antlers can easily run over a low lying alligator.
How many people in your country can block open the mouth of a crocodile using only a stick, a basic defense technique?
Would it be wise to delay action until rural Swedes, who routinely leave their doors open in the summer, start to find alligators in their bathtubs?
Now is the time, and Miami is the place!
Warmly yours,
Adrian Ocneanu