Extraordinary Evidence (Tony Heller)

Carl Sagan said "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." But unfortunately he didn't listen to his own advice when talking about climate.



The clip is about Sagan mistaking the cause of the extreme temperatures on Venus, which is not the combination of CO2 and the distance from the Sun. Only one of these plays a role.

The main factors are the distance from the Sun and also the air pressure. The more pressure the more heat. The air molecules do trap heat energy from the Sun, slowing heat loss, and convection distributes the energy in the atmosphere. But readers should note, where there is no atmosphere, like on the Moon, the Sunlit areas are over 250 Degrees F, whereas the shaded areas are minus 208 Degrees F (at the lunar equator). The energy from the Sun goes on and off like a light along with the temperature.

The key thing to understand with this process is the composition of the molecules does not play a major role. The same formula to CORRECTLY determine planetary temperature caused by air pressure applies on nitrogen and oxygen rich Earth as it does on Venus (and Mars) where the CO2 level is over 95 percent (on Earth it is a fraction of one percent at 0.042). The fact that certain planets have atmospheres that vary in density is the critical component in determining surface temperature, aside from the distance to the Sun. 

Carl Sagan did not always have the most informed view on every scientific matter that he brought up. He was wrong about the climate in relation to Venus and CO2, and wrong about UFOs (not covered here, but something addressed by researcher Stanton Friedman).

Best comment on You Tube:

@ronaldkemp3952
The same holds true for Mars. It's atmosphere is thin and the temperature during the day can reach 70° F along the equator. But because it's atmosphere is thin and contains 95% CO2 it drops down to -120° F at night. That's almost a 200° difference between day and night, even though it contains 95% CO2 it loses all it's thermal energy because it's atmosphere is thin. If it's atmosphere was as thick as Venus it's temperature wouldn't fluctuate much between day and night. It has nothing to do with it's composition or high concentration of CO2, but the thickness of it's air. Earth's temperature between day and night is regulated by air pressure and position of the ground relative to the sun, or seasons and hardly varies between 30° F between day and night, regardless of season. The thickness and air pressure is what becomes the greenhouse gas holding in heat, not it's contents. There is so much energy stored in the atmosphere of Venus, like a battery it would rain sulfuric acid if it was colder.

[Posted at the SpookyWeather2 blog, December 27, 2023.]