The heliocentric view of Copernicus [1] As sure as night follows day, we know the Earth rotates on its axis. Clocks spring forward, fall back around the equinox, and the solstice that marks the longest day of Summer and shortest in Winter, tells us the Earth orbits the sun. Of course that was only made obvious when Copernicus (1543) [1], from celestial observation, placed the sun at the centre of the solar system. Before that, sunrise after the dark of night, fruitful summers

A climate history & crossroad to the future As sure as night follows day, the solstice marks the height of summer and depths of winter we know the Earth rotates on its axis and orbits our warming sun. Less obvious are the subtle peroidic changes in the tilt of Earth's rotation, as well as the eccentricity and "wobble" of it's orbit, which lead to large changes in climate on long geological time scales. Known as the Milankovitch cycles, their astro origins are expored in part

The Sun-Earth dance driving our climate As sure as night follows day, we know the Earth rotates on its axis. Clocks spring forward, fall back around the equinox, and the solstice that marks the longest day of Summer and shortest in Winter, tells us the Earth orbits the sun. Of course that was only made obvious when Copernicus (1543) [1], from celestial observation, placed the sun at the centre of the solar system. Before that, sunrise after the dark of night, fruitful summ

Earth's beautiful glow Teaching undergrad spectroscopy was much about theory, with a bit of lab practical, and little on critical applications. Greenhouse gases (GHGs) were covered in terms of line densities, atmospheric residence times and global warming potential (GWP), but no depth of analysis of radiative forcing, the key driver of warming and climate change. Shame on me! So here goes with the recipe for turning those age old infrared (IR) transmission spectra of CO2 (car

The aerosol layer: courtesy of the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, NASA Johnson Space Center STS043-22-12 [1] Aerosols have had a PR problem in the past, but in the right place aerosols play a critical role in regulating the climate. Some of us remember a time when aerosol deodorant became an envrinmental nasty and roll-ons were the new norm. In this case, the change was less about the aerosol, and more about the propellent pushing the spray from the can. CFC (chlorofl