Originally Posted by
Beer Baron
It’s not my claim, here are what scientists (not pilots) at MIT have to say:
Let’s say a factory releases a ton of methane and a ton of CO2 into the atmosphere today. The methane immediately begins to trap a lot of heat—at least 100 times as much as the CO2. But the methane starts to break down and leave the atmosphere relatively quickly. As more time goes by, and as more of that original ton of methane disappears, the steady warming effect of the CO2 slowly closes the gap. Over 20 years, the methane would trap about 80 times as much heat as the CO2. Over 100 years, that original ton of methane would trap about 25 times as much heat as the ton of CO2.
As to your question, it would appear they are comparing adding methane or CO2 to Earth’s atmosphere as opposed to a hypothetical atmosphere of 100% CO2 or CH4. You can ask MIT for their methodology.
MIT reference
Ask MIT…Hmmm…… in the second paragraph we get the claim of: “…
Methane is a colorless, odorless gas that’s produced both by nature … and in industry … It is widely regarded as the second most important greenhouse gas, after carbon dioxide…”
Here’s me thinking water vapour were the most important greenhouse gas..
Beer Baron, when you did your met study to get your pilots licence were there much mention of C02 or methane building them big storms? Perhaps there were a mention of methane suddenly condensing into fog, or… yer gets the idea..
Beer Baron, when yer out in a cloudless desert day and the temperatures running 52c and a 0% water vapour humidity, I guess yer could blame that C02 and methane for the heat. But then the sun goes down and yer freeze… Why don’t it stay hot ? I thought that methane and C02 were supposed to warm the atmosphere for many years..
…or, you could be in Darwin Australia in the middle of the monsoon sweating away on a hot 32C day with 95% water vapour humidity and think at least you will be cool at night when the sun goes down - But it ain’t. Maybe C02 and methane only work at night in Darwin…
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