As readers are probably aware, I don't spend a lot of time on new hypotheses about global warming. Apart from intermittent looks at Svensmark's cosmoclimatology work, I've tended to concentrate on mainstream science and its relationship with policy, as well as a lot of "meta" stuff like peer review.
However, I was recently sent a paper by reader David Coe that piqued my interest. It seemed to me to be put together pretty well, and was about an area of the science that I knew nothing about. Being somewhat wary about this kind of thing though, I've sought expert opinion, and this suggests that at least some of what is said is good and new and interesting. So I am going to post the paper up, with the caveat that it is only a discussion paper and parts of it may be wrong. Readers are cordially invited to throw stones at it.
The paper is written in four parts, which I will post at a rate of one every 3-4 days.
Here is the first part, which sets out the problem.