The effect of carbon dioxide and water vapor on the atmospheric temperature profile

A new approach is developed for the determination of the atmospheric temperature profile. Various concentrations of carbon dioxide, water vapor, and scattering particles are introduced to determine the perturbing effect on the temperature distribution in the atmosphere. The solution is gained through the combination of the Edwards exponential wide band model equations and the Curtis-Godson transformation. The Curtis-Godson technique allows a transformation from the equations for a nonisothermal medium to those for the isothermal case while the Edwards band model equations provide a means of finding the absorption characteristics of the carbon dioxide and water vapor. The basic radiation equation of transfer is coupled with an energy balance equation through the use of a wide band model derivative approximation which reduces the complexity of the analysis considerably. An approach is developed for the inclusion of particle scattering. The simple case of elastic scattering is considered and the equations are treated in a manner which allows the wide band model derivative approximation to be utilized again. The doubling of the carbon dioxide concentration produced a 1.89° C increase in the ground level temperature. Halving the concentration caused a decrease of 1.94° C in the ground level temperature, These results agree reasonably well with those obtained by other investigators. In addition, since only a 25% increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide is expected from AD 1900 to AD 2000, there is no threat of a significant ground level temperature change due to the increase of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. In fact, the introduction of water vapor and scattering can negate the effects of the carbon dioxide completely.