According to him, the explanation as presented to the public of what constitutes the greenhouse effect is misleading. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change explains, for instance, that sunlight passes through the atmosphere to illuminate the earth s surface.
Some sunlight is reflected, but much is absorbed.
Greenhouse gases, primarily clouds and water vapor, act like a blanket that prevents heat escaping from the earth, and the earth gets warmer. Indeed, space cannot see the surface, by and large, except at the poles. Instead, space sees some level about five kilometers up, in the troposphere. A doubling of CO 2 would cause the CEL to move out about 150 meters, says Lindzen. But because the temperature of the air decreases with height, this new level is colder.