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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.
The increasingly corroborated atmospheric mass pressure (gravity) explanation for variances in planetary temperatures – which precludes a significant role for CO2 concentration changes – has now advanced from peer-reviewed scientific journals to university-level textbooks.
The “adiabatic theory” of the greenhouse effect (
adiabatic: “the constant decline in temperature of an air parcel as it rises in the atmosphere due to pressure drop and gas expansion”) is capable of explaining the variances in temperatures on planets like Earth, Mars, and Venus using each planet’s atmospheric pressure gradient – and without reliance on the traditional greenhouse effect theory that assigns a governing role to CO2.
As a simplified example, Mars has an atmosphere made up of about 950,000 ppm (95%) CO2 compared to the Earth’s 400 ppm (0.04%), and yet Mars’ average surface temperature is about
-75°C colder than Earth’s. Venus also has an atmosphere with about 950,000 ppm (95%) CO2, but its surface is
+447°C warmer than Earth’s. In addition to each planet’s variable distance from the Sun, the difference in temperature for Mars, Venus, and Earth can be calculated by considering its atmospheric mass (pressure) gradient. Mars’ atmosphere is
100 times thinner than Earth’s. Venus’ atmosphere is
92 times heavier (pressurized) than Earth’s. The CO2 concentration of each planet may therefore be insignificant in determining surface temperature relative to factors (a) distance from the Sun and (b) atmospheric density.