I Misunderstood the Greenhouse Effect. Here's How It Works.
Why Hacker News recommends it
Recommended as an accessible, nuanced explanation of the mechanics of global warming, including the saturation puzzle.
What it is
Sabine Hossenfelder explains how the greenhouse effect actually works, given that infrared is mostly absorbed low in the atmosphere already. She walks through why more CO2 still warms the surface.
Recommended by 5 HN commenters across 5 different months, 2023 to 2025.
What Hacker News said
Recommends smonn_ · 2023-04 · on “Methane may not warm the Earth quite as much as previously thought”
I'd recommend watching this video if you'd like to know the more nuanced story behind climate change: [this video] I am not qualified at all to really comment on it but this did open my eyes to how confusing the entire thing is.
Recommends jandrese · 2023-05 · on “The Upper Atmosphere Is Cooling, Prompting New Climate Concerns”
If you are confused as to why this is a bad thing this video explains the mechanics of global warming in a way anybody can understand. [this video]
Recommends orwin · 2023-05 · on “Emissions are no longer following the worst case scenario”
This is good news, somehow. Here is how the earth 'greenhouse effect' really works: [this video] This is why Co2 do not have any effect until it reaches the high troposphere. That takes 20 years. The average climate we have right now is caused by emissions from 2003. I'll repeat that in the comments of every climate article I read by the way, sorry for the repetition. M
Recommends gcanyon · 2024-02 · on “Xkcd: Greenhouse Effect”
For anyone who's curious, here's an explanation of how the greenhouse effect works -- it's not just that some infrared radiation escapes from earth to space, while some other infrared radiation gets trapped. [this video]
Recommends jeffbee · 2025-02 · on “The Upper Atmosphere Is Cooling, Prompting New Climate Concerns”
This Sabine Hossenfelder video helped me understand stratospheric cooling as a climate change outcome. [this video]
Recommends gcanyon · 2025-10 · on “Eliminating contrails from flying could be cheap”
Related context: Sabine Hossenfelder's explanation of how the greenhouse effect works -- it's interesting and weird: [this video]
Cites mapt · 2024-05 · on “How CO2 warms Earth and why CO2 is not 'saturated' in Earth's atmosphere”
See also [this video] And note that if you think "Maybe we shouldn't be worried until we understand this" In the past ~14 months things have taken off in ways that nobody who studies this stuff can fully explain yet (leading theory: cleaner fuel -> less sulfur dioxide forcing). We're 4 to 5 standard deviations from the 30-year mean in sea surface temperature right now. [LINK] The half of the human population that lives in South, East, and Southeast Asia have been under oppressive heatwaves in the past few days that have taken a sizable death toll. [LINK] The USDA just adjusted its planting map using 2022 data and indicated that average winter low temperatures in the US have risen 2.5 degrees over