[ExI] Global Temperatures to Decrease

[Rafal Smigrodzki]

On Sun, Apr 20, 2008 at 7:34 PM, Damien Broderick <thespike at satx.rr.com> wrote:
>
>  >In any case I don't think the global warming crowd is suggesting a mechanism
>  >for runaway warming thru increased amount of atmosphere
>
>  Surely it's their very case--if "increased amount" is read as
>  "increased heat-trapping constituents of the atmosphere,"
>  significantly due to human activity--coal burning, farting or
>  belching cows, etc.

### Well, in some very general way, yes, but the actual numbers seem
to be many orders of magnitude apart. The increases in greenhouse
gases on Earth are measured in parts per million, while the amounts on
Venus are measured in tens of bars. How many orders of magnitude
difference is that? 10e5? 10e6? I am not good with them numbers but
Earth and Venus still look like comparing apples and oranges.

AFAIK, the current hypothesis for why Venus is so hot blames it on the
absence of functional plate tectonics, which lead to an accumulation
of carbon dioxide and sulfur oxides well beyond anything that could
happen on Earth, even if we burn every last piece of coal and squeak
out the last bubble of methane.

Rafal