New Quantum Paradigm Challenges Our Understanding of Global Warming

By University of Technology Sydney December 9, 2024

Collected at: https://scitechdaily.com/new-quantum-paradigm-challenges-our-understanding-of-global-warming/

A new paradigm explains how oceans store energy not just as heat but also as quantum energy, contributing to accelerating temperature rises. Current climate models need adjustments to include this factor, but reducing greenhouse gas emissions remains essential to address the underlying issue.

An Australian scientist has attributed the accelerating rates of ocean heat uptake, which deviate from current climate models, to quantum physics.

In a recent paper published in the Journal of Physics Communications, Emeritus Professor in Applied Physics at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Geoff Smith puts forward a new “quantum thermal physics paradigm” to better understand the impact of global warming on oceans and thus on climate and weather.

Rising Ocean Temperatures: A Warning Sign

Professor Smith said accumulated data over 70 years showed an accelerating rise in ocean temperatures and the total energy stored in oceans, with the world earlier this year passing what was described as a “foreboding milestone” – a record global average sea surface temperature of 21.1°C.

“Current scientific models in the presence of ongoing rises in atmospheric greenhouse gasses do not predict this threatening acceleration,” Professor Smith said.

“The solution to this conundrum is that the energy being stored in oceans is a combination of heat with energy which is nature’s source of information on material properties.

“When ocean water is heated by radiation from the sun and the sky it stores energy not only as heat, but as hybrid pairs of photons coupled to oscillating water molecules.

“These pairs are a natural form of quantum information, different from the information researchers are pursuing in the development of quantum computing. This extra store of energy has always been present and aided ocean thermal stability prior to 1960.

“But now the average heat dissipated overnight from each day’s heating is no longer stable as extra heat input from Earth’s atmosphere raises both forms of stored energy.”

Professor Smith said the apparent role of non-thermal energy in accelerating ocean temperatures now needs to be factored into climate models.

“Our current models for the thermal responses of built and natural outdoor systems may also need refining for improved comfort, less use of supplied energy, and better human, plant, and animal health in a warming climate,” Professor Smith said.

“In the end though the only way to slow, then stop an alarming temperature acceleration is to stop the rise in atmospheric greenhouse gases.”

Reference: “A many-body quantum model is proposed as the mechanism responsible for accelerating rates of heat uptake by oceans as anthropogenic heat inputs rise” by and G B Smith, 13 November 2024, Journal of Physics Communications.
DOI: 10.1088/2399-6528/ad8f11