The Rainbow

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Permalink Reply by Terrance Egolf on July 12, 2010 at 2:08pm

Brad,

First, I didn't say we cannot calculate the half-life of processes that we believe are uniform. However, we have been measuring the geomagnetic field for only a little more than a century, and the low earth orbit geomagnetic field for around a half a century so the data source is limited. And, if we agree that the Flood represents a significant discontinuity in the geomagnetic history of the earth, as suggested by magnetic banding near divergent plate boundaries, then we cannot make any valid extrapolation of the change in the geomagnetic field beyond about 5500 years ago. These are basic inferences based on an empirical scientific method.

Cirrus clouds are found in the stratosphere and noctilucent clouds occur in the mesosphere. These altitudes support ice crystal formation. I suspect that the stratosphere is too close to the troposphere to be the location of a hypothetical vapor canopy because it would have interacted directly with the surface weather. The mesosphere is too tenuous to have provided the necessary buoyancy of any significant quantity of water vapor/ice. Of course, I am presupposing that the pre-Flood atmosphere was structured pretty much the same as it is today, so even these conjectures are suspect.

And I have to disagree about your correction to my statement regarding the temperature profile of the atmosphere. This is a typical profile you can view by searching the web. Astronauts working around the ISS are in the middle of the thermosphere, around 300 km up. Astronaut EVA suits are white and include reflective coatings on their visors because they would cook when in full sunlight if dressed otherwise. At the same time, they are insulated against cold for when they work in the earth's or an artificial shadow. The insulation works both ways. The graphic shows the average temperature of the atmosphere. So even if the thermosphere/exosphere temperature dips for a few hours while in the earth's shadow, it spends most of its time in the full sunlight.

And recall that temperature is a measure of the average kinetic energy of the particles in a medium. It says nothing about the amount of thermal energy that medium may contain. The themosphere/exosphere may be very hot, but it wouldn't feel hot to the touch (if you could touch it without a space suit).

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Permalink Reply by Terrance Egolf on July 12, 2010 at 9:43pm

Brad,

I count you a brother in Christ, and this is a lousy way to hold a conversation. So let's just agree that we have no real way of affirming or disallowing the existence of a water vapor canopy prior to the Flood. The two strongest arguments against a vapor canopy come from (1) the creation narrative, which uses the same word for expanse to divide the waters above from those below as the place where the sun, moon, and stars reside. i.e., space; and (2) the origin of the theory in the first place, which is the anti-theistic nebular hypothesis.Vardiman's computer modeling makes a vapor canopy a very unlikely source of the Flood waters, but it does not disallow the existence of a thin canopy.

Terry

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