Physics: Why Greenhouse Models Omit Climate Feedbacks

The enhanced greenhouse effect describes how certain atmospheric gases absorb outgoing infrared radiation and re-emit it in all directions, warming Earth's surface. CO2 absorbs strongly near 4.2 μm and 15 μm, while H2O absorbs broadly beyond roughly 16 μm, so together they intercept much of the infrared Earth tries to radiate to space. As CO2 concentration climbs from pre-industrial 280 ppm to today's 420 ppm, more molecules are available to capture photons at those wavelengths, and the energy re-emitted back toward the surface increases, raising temperature. This matters because the effect underpins climate change, yet simplified energy-balance models treat the atmosphere as a single uniform layer, ignoring feedbacks like water-vapour amplification and albedo loss from melting ice, other greenhouse gases such as CH4 and N2O, and aerosols. Understanding these gaps shows why real radiative forcing exceeds what a basic model predicts.