Brian H wrote:
In part, this says that any given CO2 molecule may or may not re-radiate energy it has gained from either thermal contact or IR influence. It may just bump a nearby molecule and lose its excess energy to some other gas. If it does re-radiate, it will be in some random direction, possibly back to space, possibly sideways, possibly down. This does not permit any kind of averaging computation.
Bingo. The more CO2, the more absorption. The more absorption, the more downward re-radiation. The more downward re-radiation, the less gets through to warm the stratosphere. Therefore the stratosphere cools, the surface warms. Exactly what we are seeing.
