Does CO2 explain greater warming at night?

Question

I seem to remember reading somewhere that CO2 would explain why there has been more warming at night, whereas this is not explained by the sun etc. What exactly is the mechanism that explains this?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Urban heat island effect also explains warming at night.  Concrete traps heat during the day and releases it during the night.

Answer 2

Water vapor explains it better.  It ain't the heat, it's the humidity!

Answer 3

Yes, this is also called a 'decreased diurnal temperature range (DTR)', which is the difference between the max and min temperatures on a given day.

If warming is due to the Sun, we expect to see greater warming during the day when solar radiation is striking the surface.  CO2 traps heat regardless of the time of day, so it will cause equal or greater warming at night.

As this graphic of just non-urban stations shows, the decreasing DTR is not due to the urban heat island effect:

http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/img/climate/glo...

Answer 4

There's not enough CO2 in the atmosphere to have an impact on temperature.  Rarely where I live does the temperature increase at night, but when it does there is a change in weather coming through the area.

Answer 5

Yes

Answer 6

As this paper mentions http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2007/20...

greater warming at night is not indicative of a CO2 induced warming.

Answer 7

CO2 is a greenhouse gas.  Alters wavelength of UV radiation from the sun into IR that warms earth & sea.  At night warm earth & sea give off heat.  More CO2 the warmer everything gets, and therefore the warmer it is at night...