Comment on "Collision and radiative processes in emission of atmospheric carbon dioxide"

TL;DR

This paper critiques Smirnov's model on atmospheric CO2 emission, identifying flaws that underestimate CO2's impact on global warming, and shows that increased CO2 concentrations can raise Earth's surface temperature by about 1.1-1.3K.

Contribution

It reveals key errors in Smirnov's theoretical model and provides a more accurate estimate of CO2's effect on global temperature increase.

Findings

Incorrectly low temperature increase in Smirnov's model

Corrected models suggest 1.1-1.3K temperature rise

Flaws lead to underestimation of CO2's warming effect

Abstract

Recently, Smirnov published a paper (B. M. Smirnov, "Collision and radiative processes in emission of atmospheric carbon dioxide", 2018, J. Phys. D.: Appl. Phys., Vol. 51, No. 21, pp. 214004) which dismisses the role of increasing concentrations of anthropogenic CO$_2$ on global warming of planet Earth. We show that these conclusions are the consequence of two flaws in Smirnov's theoretical model which neglect the effects of the increased concentrations of CO$_2$ on the absorption of Earth's blackbody radiation in the 12-15$\mu$m region. The influence of doubling the concentration of CO$_2$ in the atmosphere on the surface temperature is not $\Delta$T=0.02K, or even $\Delta$T=0.4K if only one of the two mistakes in Smirnov's analysis is corrected. The correct value lies within $\Delta$T=1.1-1.3K as outlined by other authors analysis using simplified, yet more theoretically consistent models.