[nonbel]

I don't think it is as easy to identify "facts" as this article implies. For example, which of the following statements are factual:

1) The effective radiating temperature of the earth, T_e, is determined by the need for infrared emission from the planet to balance absorbed solar radiation:

  pi*R^2(1-A)*S_0 = 4*pi*R^2*sigma*T_e^4

where R is the radius of the earth, A the albedo of the earth, S_0 the flux of solar radiation, and sigma the Stefan-Boltzmann constant.

2) Rearranged, this equation gives:

  T_e = [S_0*(1-A)/(4*sigma)]^0.25

3) For A - 0.3 and So = 1367 watts per square meter, this yields T_e ~ 255 K.

4) The mean surface temperature is T_s ~ 288 K.

5) The excess, T_s - T_e, is the greenhouse effect of gases and clouds

[08-15]

1) Conclusion from a well supported theory (not a fact, but pretty darn close). It's only an approximation, though: what's the albedo of a heterogenous body and doesn't it depend on temperature?

2, 3) Simple conclusions from (1).

4) Fact... sort of. It needs a precise defintion of "mean surface temperature" that makes sense in the face of the equation in (1). Shouldn't you take the fourth root of the mean of the fourth power of temperature? For practical purposes, this is called a "ball park number".

5) Plain wrong. The correct coclusion is that either (a) the theory presented in (1) is wrong or (b) one of your inputs (R, A, sigma, S_0) is wrong. Turns out the value of A is wrong, and the simplistic idea of albedo is not good enough for the theory in (1).