Roy Clark: Time Dependent Energy Transfer

Volume 3.5

Joseph Fourier discussed the temperature of the earth in two similar memoires (reviews) in 1824 and 1827. An important and long neglected part of this work is his description of the time dependence of the surface energy transfer. In particular, he was able to explain the seasonal time delays or phase shifts between the peak solar flux and the subsurface temperature response using his theory of heat published in 1822. This is clear evidence for a non-equilibrium thermal response to the solar flux. Diurnal and seasonal phase shifts occur in both the ocean and land temperature records. These phase shifts provide important additional information about the time dependent energy transfer processes that determine the surface temperature. Unfortunately, starting with the work of Pouillet in 1836, this time dependence was neglected and replaced by an equilibrium average climate. It was assumed, incorrectly, that the surface temperature could be determined using average values for just the solar and IR flux terms. This approach created CO2 induced global warming as a mathematical artifact in the simplistic equilibrium air column model used by Arrhenius in 1896. Physical reality was abandoned in favor of mathematical simplicity. The equilibrium assumption is still the foundation of the fraudulent climate models in use today. In order to move beyond the pseudoscience of radiative forcings, feedbacks and climate sensitivity to CO2 it is necessary to follow Fourier and restore the time dependence to the surface energy transfer. A change in flux produces a change in the rate of cooling (or heating) of a thermal reservoir, not a change in temperature.

Read more here: Time Dependent Climate Energy Transfer: The Forgotten Legacy of Joseph Fourier by Roy Clark.