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Quote by: Pooeypants  Actually, it says and I quote;Now I can't find those numbers from the DoE link, they stated it's also drawn from other sources but where exactly? |
OK. I'll try to help out here. But, of course we layman (
Sigma Pi Sigma, 1986) may have to go for simplified answers.
Physics World, May 2003, "Water vapour is responsible for 70% of the known absorption of incoming sunlight, particularly in the infrared region."
Nova, "water vapor can comprise 60 to 70 percent of the greenhouse effect. Next in line, carbon dioxide contributes an additional 25 percent"
Some random web page, "Water vapor (H2O) causes about 60% of Earth's naturally-occurring greenhouse effect. Other gases influencing the effect include carbon dioxide (CO2) (about 26%), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and ozone (O3) (about 8%)."
Some weather dude page, "The average amount of water vapor in the atmosphere averaged for all locations is between 2 and 3%. Carbon dioxide levels are near 0.04%. That means there is more than 60 times as much water vapor in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide in average conditions. Both water vapor and Carbon dioxide are greenhouse gases. They both trap outgoing longwave radiation between the earth and the atmosphere. This has an effect of keeping temperatures warmer than they otherwise would be. Carbon dioxide is a more efficient greenhouse gas than water vapor when both are in equal quantities. However, they are not in equal quantities. There is much more water vapor than carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. In day to day weather forecasting, the greenhouse effect from water vapor is important while carbon dioxide is not. The atmospheric greenhouse effect from clouds and water vapor causes cloudy nights to be warmer than clear nights, all else being equal. "
and on, and on, and on ...
But, of course, this oversimplifies what is happening in our atmosphere just as much as concentrating on CO2 as a greenhouse gas does. Greater concentrations of water vapor will also result in greater cloud cover. But, as has recently been pointed out, cloud cover is influenced by cosmic radiation, which fluctuates as a function of solar activity. Solar activity, along with affecting cloud cover by affecting cosmic radiation, also impacts the solar thermal flux which affects the temperature of the Earth directly, along with increasing the concentration of water vapor in the atmosphere which increases the greenhouse effect and, at the same time, influencing cloud cover, which is affected by cosmic radiation, and, again, on and on and on ...
The biggest point would be that no one really knows for sure what is happening in our atmosphere and it would be highly irresponsible to take action that would drastically impact the world's economy on incomplete information and uncertainty.
Keith