At http://chiefio.wordpress.com/2013/06/21/the-fallacy-of-trapped-heat/ … this post is reminiscent of a talk Peter Warlow gave to the SIS at the Harlequin Theatre in Redhill in April 2009, concerning greenhouse gases, greenhouses, and the atmosphere (that leaks). Warlow was a research physicist and EM Smith (chiefio) has his fingers in a lot of pies – but they both reach a similar conclusion. The atmosphere cannot contain the heat.
EM Smith begins by saying he was pondering about the problem of lighting a sphere and how much energy is required and where it might come from, idling with his thoughts on a computer when he came across two sites that seemed to show climate scientists leave out a lot of reality. Temperature is not heat – which leads us to energy flows in and out of the Earth system. The fact we have day and night, clouds in the sky, sometimes in great swirling bands that block sunlight, and the seasons of the year, tells us in no uncertain terms that heat leaves – heat is not trapped as assumed in greenhouse climate science. Heat leaves the Earth in massive quantities. In California the temperature can move from 110F in the shade in summer to 20F in winter. Where then is all the trapped heat?
The basic premise of climate science is that heat will build up in the system, getting warmer and warmer = CAGW. It is trapped over decades and therefore must raise global temperatures, and keep raising them. In contrast, knowing that heat actually leaves the system, during every winter time, for example, climate science has somehow missed out on a piece of obvious reality. This is why the natural cycle of warming and cooling is still going on -overriding higher levels of co2 in the atmosphere.
There is one spot on Earth where there is a direct link to the Sun throughout the year – the equatorial zone. Everywhere else is a bit tilted, getting an oblique share of the sun's energy, and is not as hot. The further north from the equator the colder it becomes.
Where is the heat going – solar warming of tropical oceans drives the ocean circulation and dumps heat in the seas around the Poles where it leaves the planet during the long cold polar nights on a seasonal basis. There is daily solar warming of tropical and temperate regions that drives the thunderstorms, and cyclones that move heat into the stratosphere (and again, off the planet). Heat is not trapped. Peak summer heat arrives about a month after peak summer Sun – which is occurring at this moment. Once July has come and gone the rest of summer might be short as there has not been a lot of heat around so far this year.