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Published online 24 March 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.182

News: Q&A

Jane Lubchenco

The new head of NOAA talks priorities.

Alexandra Witze

Jane Lubchenco is the new administrator of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a 12,500-employee, $4.4-billion agency in charge of most things sea and air.

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  • Using the relationship E=3/2kT where E=average kinetic energy of a single molecule k is Boltzmann's and T the absolute temperature constant from kinetic theory of gases and comparing this with the energy of a single photon from Planck formula E=nhf where E= the single photon energy and n is 1.5 plus an integer 0,1,2-. h is Planck's constant and h the frequency of the radiation. Comparison of these for all wavelengths absorbed by CO2 I find that the photon energy exceeds the average kinetic energy by a factor of 3 to 30 over a range of temperature 253 to 323°K. Using the principle of equipartition of energy this means that CO2 can not re-radiate at any ambient temperature on earth as is claimed by those who blame CO2 for global warming. I believe that increased turbidity in both ocean and atmosphere are the most likely causes of climate changes. when water freezes it excludes solutes but not particulate matter so that the included matter will both decrease the depth of sea ice formed and the rate at which it remelts. Water turbidity will increase ocean surface temperature by reducing the depth required for full absorption of incident radiation. More detail requires more space than is available here

    • 25 Mar, 2009
    • Posted by: Robert Stringer