The Evolution of Earth's Climate

Written by a group of the most experienced and well-known environmental engineers in the world, from a unique perspective, this volume explores the hot-button issue of climate change, its causes, and the future of the planet. Climate change is one of the most controversial and argued issues in the world today, and it has been for years. It has been politicized by politicians on all sides, some scientists have used the study of it for their own material gain above true scientific discovery, and some scientific theories surrounding it have been believed even though proven false. But there is not, by any means, complete agreement among all scientists throughout the world on this issue. Written by two of the world's most well-respected environmental and petroleum engineers, this book is meant to be one voice in the scientific literature on this important subject. Other books, also available from Wiley-Scrivener, take the opposite stance, but it is important, in our scientific journey, to listen to all voices and rely on facts, rather than opinions. We trust the reader to make his or her decisions based on all of the facts, and not just some of them.

Table of Contents:
Introduction xv Acknowledgments xix Part I: Climatic Paradox 1 1 Climatic Paradox 3 Historic Temperatures of Early Earth 3 Concepts by Some of Global Warming 5 Earth’s Historic Temperature Charts 6 Misuse of Temperature Charts 7 Use of Paleoclimatology to Estimate Prehistoric Temperatures 8 Use of the Oxygen Isotope Ratio to Estimate Historic Temperatures 9 Historic Temperature Charts for the Past 4.6 BY 10 Glacial Periods and Interglacial Periods (4.5 to 0.540 BY AGO) 10 Historic Temperature Record of the Past 540 MY 11 Today’s Temperature Charts 16 The Sun—a Primary Source of Energy 17 Physical Aspects of the Sun 18 Sunspots 18 Solar Irradiation Reaching the Earth 20 The Sun’s Energy 23 Energy Received by the Earth from the Sun 26 The Paradox Reviewed 27 2 Adiabatic Theory 29 Troposphere 29 How is Heat Transferred in the Troposphere? 31 Modeling the Earth’s Troposphere 33 Features of the Earth’s Atmosphere 33 Development of an Adiabatic Equation 35 Development of the Adiabatic Equation 37 Earth’s Troposphere Model 41 Effect of Precession Angle 42 Application of Adiabatic Equation to the Planet Venus 47 3 The Earth’s Synoptic Activities 51 Greenhouse Effect Adiabatic Theory 51 Model of Heat Transfer in the Troposphere 52 Part II: Development of the Hydrosphere 59 4 Development of Earth’s Hydrosphere 61 Hydrosphere of the Primordial Earth 61 Formation of the Hydrosphere 66 Part III: Development of the Earth’s Atmosphere 79 5 Earth’s Historic Atmospheres 81 Earth’s Primordial Atmosphere 81 Earth’s First Atmosphere (Hadean time—4.56 to 4.0 BY ago) 83 Earth’s Second Atmosphere (Archean time, 4.0 to 2.5 BY ago) 85 Earth’s Third Atmosphere (Proterozoic to mid-Phanerozoic time – 2.5 to 0.54 BY ago) 86 Today’s Atmosphere (Phanerozoic time, 0.542 BY ago to today) 89 The Earth’s Future Atmosphere 89 6 Nitrogen in Earth’s Atmosphere 91 Origin of Earth’s Atmospheric Nitrogen 91 Estimate of the Earth’s Volume of Organic-Nitrogen Sediments 95 7 Development of Free Oxygen in Earth’s Atmosphere 99 Oxygen 99 History of Free Oxygen in Earth’s Atmosphere 100 8 Development of Methane in Earth’s Atmosphere 111 Methane the Gas 111 Historic Levels of Methane in the Earth’s Atmosphere 114 Monitoring of Methane Gas Emissions 126 9 The Effect of the Greenhouse Gases 129 The Greenhouse Gases 129 The Classic Greenhouse Effect 130 The Greenhouse Gases 131 Understanding the Greenhouse Effect 134 The Greenhouse Effect 135 Effect of the Precession Angle 138 Convective Heat Transsphere in Troposphere 140 Effect of Water Vapor on Heat Transfer 140 Effect of Carbon Dioxide on Temperature Distribution 141 The Effect of Carbon Dioxide Anthropogenic Emissions 143 10 Development of Carbon Dioxide in Earth’s Atmosphere 147 Carbon Dioxide 147 Sources of Carbon Dioxide 148 The Carbon Cycle 148 Mass of Carbon in the Earth’s Crust 151 Mass of Carbon in the Earth’s Mantle 151 Historic Content of Carbon Dioxide in the Earth’s Atmosphere 155 Earth’s Hadean Atmosphere (4.56 to 4.0 BY ago) 155 Earth’s Archaean Atmosphere (4.0 to 2.4 BY ago) 156 Earth’s Proterozoic and Phanerozoic Atmosphere (2.4 BY ago to today) 159 Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide in the Atmosphere 163 Historic Effect of Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide 168 11 Ozone in the Earth’s Atmosphere 173 Properties of Ozone 173 Ozone Layer as the “Earth’s Shield” 174 Atmospheric Gases Ability to Absorb Energy 175 The Ozone Hole 184 Ozone – Methane Reaction 188 Concluding Remarks 189 12 Evolution of Atmospheric Composition and Pressure 191 Partial Pressure of Atmospheric Gases 191 Part IV: Various Factors Affecting the Evolution of the Earth’s Climate 197 13 Earth’s Orbital Distance from the Sun 199 Effect of Gravity on Earth’s Orbital Paths 199 Earth’s Orbital Path About the Sun 200 Kepler’s Laws Pertaining to Planetary Orbits 202 Eccentricity of an Object’s Orbit 205 Effect of Other Planets on Earth’s orbit 206 The Effect of the Planet Jupiter on Earth’s Orbital Path 212 14 Climatalogical Effect of Continental Drift 223 Continental Drift’s Effect on the Earth’s Precession Angle 223 Latitudinal Temperature Contrast on Earth’s Surface 228 15 Earth’s Future Climate 235 Conclusions 239 References and Bibliography 241 Author Index 271 Subject Index 275

About the Author :
John O. Robertson, PhD, is the owner of Earth Engineering, Inc. and an adjunct professor at ITT Tech in National City, CA.  He has over 50 years of experience in petroleum and environmental engineering and geology and is the author of over 12 textbooks and 75 articles. George V. Chilingar, PhD, is an Emeritus Professor of Engineering at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, CA. He is one of the most well-known petroleum geologists in the world and the founder of several prestigious journals in the oil and gas industry. He has published over 70 books and 500 articles and has received over 100 awards over his career. Oleg G. Sorokhtin is recognized for his work in geophysics, geology and ecology at the institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.  He passed away in 2010. Nikolai Sorokhtin is a geologist and academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences and has participated in over 20 major geological expeditions and author of more than 100 scientific publications, including six monographs. Wennan Long is a reservoir engineer specialist in Synergy Oil and Gas, LLC in Long Beach, California and an active member of the Russian Academy of Nature Sciences   He has published many engineering articles in the areas of climate change and environmental science.