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The Earth is a Planet Too!When the solar system formed, the sun was 30 dimmer than today and Venus had an ocean. As the sun brightened, a runaway greenhouse effect caused the Venus ocean to boil away. At times when Earth was younger, the sun less bright, and atmospheric CO2 less, Earth froze over (snowball Earth). Earth is in the sweet spot today. Venus is closer to sun than Earth is, but cloud-covered Venus absorbs only 25 of incident sunlight, while Earth absorbs 70. Venus is warmer because it has a thick carbon dioxide atmosphere causing a greenhouse effect of several hundred degrees. Earth is Goldilocks choice among the planets, the one that is just right for life to exist. Not too hot. Not too cold. How does the Earth manage to stay in this habitable range? Is there a Gaia phenomenon keeping the climate in bounds? A nice idea, but it doesnt work. Today, greenhouse gas levels are unprecedented compared to the last 450,000 years.
Document ID
20140017347
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Presentation
Authors
Cairns, Brian
(NASA Goddard Inst. for Space Studies New York, NY United States)
Date Acquired
December 12, 2014
Publication Date
July 21, 2014
Subject Category
Meteorology And Climatology
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN16904
Report Number: GSFC-E-DAA-TN16904
Funding Number(s)
WBS: WBS 509496.02.08.04.24
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
Keywords
greenhouse effect
carbon dioxide concentration
oceans
sun
atmospheric composition
solar system
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