FALSE: This atmospheric process does not disprove the greenhouse gas origin of global warming
A claim that a phenomenon in our atmosphere shows there is no warming by greenhouse gases is FALSE.
This post on a website claimed that the physics of the tropospheric lapse rate refutes the theory that greenhouse gases cause warming.
The atmosphere is the layer of gases surrounding Earth and consists of five layers. The troposphere, the lowest layer, is where humans live and breathe.
The atmosphere is held in place by Earth's gravity and consists mainly of nitrogen, oxygen, and argon, alongside rising levels of carbon dioxide.
But does the physics of the troposphere prove that greenhouse gases cannot cause warming?
The lapse rate cited in the claim refers to the decrease in air temperature with altitude. For example, air becomes colder as you climb higher up a mountain.
This is why the troposphere, where humans live, is warmer and more habitable than the upper atmosphere and space. The greenhouse effect, through which greenhouse gases absorb and re-emit outgoing heat, keeps Earth’s surface warm enough to support life.
The troposphere and its lapse rate are well-studied scientific processes, but neither demonstrates that greenhouse gases cannot cause global warming. On the contrary, studies show that global warming affects the lapse rate, generally reducing it and creating a feedback that can amplify warming.
As humans continue adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, temperatures rise, driving global warming and climate change. PesaCheck has previously shown that human activity, particularly emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases, is the primary driver of current global warming and climate change.
PesaCheck has examined a claim that an atmospheric process proves greenhouse gases do not cause climate change and finds it to be FALSE.
This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.
By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds.
Have you spotted what you think is fake or false information on Facebook? Here’s how you can report. And, here's more information on PesaCheck's methodology for fact-checking questionable content.
This fact-check was written by PesaCheck climate change fact-checker Christiaan van der Merwe and edited by PesaCheck senior copy editors Mary Mutisya and Cédrick Irakoze.
The article was approved for publication by PesaCheck’s managing editor Doreen Wainainah.
PesaCheck is East Africa’s first public finance fact-checking initiative. It was co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein, and is being incubated by the continent's largest civic technology and data journalism accelerator: Code for Africa. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances that shape government’s delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) public services, such as healthcare, rural development and access to water / sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage. To find out more about the project, visit pesacheck.org.
PesaCheck is an initiative of Code for Africa, through its innovateAFRICA fund, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie, in partnership with a coalition of local African media and other civic watchdog organisations.