by Chuck Hall
Big Oil has launched a propaganda war against the science of climate change. In all this propaganda, they’ve attempted to find alternate explanations for global warming. Last week I addressed the myth that sunspots cause climate change. This week we’ll be looking at the myth that water vapor is responsible.
No proponent of the water vapor theory has yet been able to explain why no sudden increase in water vapor has been observed, nor why the amount water vapor in the air doesn’t correlate with average global temperature. The water vapor myth has also not been able to explain what supposedly started this increase in water vapor in the first place. Nor has this myth been able to explain the correlation between increased carbon dioxide and increased global temperatures. The water vapor theory says nothing at all about carbon dioxide.
So is it true that water vapor is a greenhouse gas? If it is, what does this have to do with global climate change? While water vapor could contribute to the greenhouse effect, it simply does not persist in the atmosphere long enough to do that much damage. Water vapor remains in the atmosphere for just a few days, while carbon dioxide lingers for hundreds of years. Not only that, but the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere creates a synergistic effect. That is, the more it accumulates, the more damage it does.
In addition to the fact that water vapor only stays in the atmosphere for a few days (remember rain?), in order for water vapor to be a significant factor in climate change, scientists would first have to demonstrate that humans had caused a significant increase in the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere. There is no evidence that this is true. If water vapor were indeed responsible for global warming, there would be an observable slow buildup of water vapor in the atmosphere. No such buildup is occurring with water vapor, but it is occurring with carbon dioxide. This buildup of carbon dioxide is an observed, measurable fact. Not so with water vapor.
If you’ve had a basic secondary school science education, you know that water vapor is highly dependent on temperature. Any excess water vapor in the atmosphere is rapidly lost in the form of rain, snow, fog, or other precipitation. There is no buildup of water vapor over time. On the other hand, carbon dioxide continues to accumulate in the atmosphere. Even if all carbon dioxide emissions stopped all over the world today, it would still take hundreds of years for the atmosphere to return to pre-industrial levels of carbon dioxide.
To think of it in another way, there is no limit on the amount of rain that can fall, but there is a limit to the amount of carbon dioxide the Earth’s plants, animals and oceans can absorb. The surplus carbon dioxide that doesn’t get absorbed goes into the atmosphere to accumulate.
There are other greenhouse gases, such as methane from ‘cow burps’ and other sources, but the amount of these gases that are currently in the atmosphere pale in significance to the amount of carbon dioxide. When analyzing for relative effects of all the current greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, scientists have determined that carbon dioxide caused by human activities is responsible for over two-thirds of observed climate change.
So the short answer is that water vapor could be considered a greenhouse gas, but when compared to carbon dioxide, water vapor’s capacity for warming is the equivalent of a lit match to carbon dioxide’s atomic bomb.
No proponent of the water vapor theory has yet been able to explain why no sudden increase in water vapor has been observed, nor why the amount water vapor in the air doesn’t correlate with average global temperature. The water vapor myth has also not been able to explain what supposedly started this increase in water vapor in the first place. Nor has this myth been able to explain the correlation between increased carbon dioxide and increased global temperatures. The water vapor theory says nothing at all about carbon dioxide.
So is it true that water vapor is a greenhouse gas? If it is, what does this have to do with global climate change? While water vapor could contribute to the greenhouse effect, it simply does not persist in the atmosphere long enough to do that much damage. Water vapor remains in the atmosphere for just a few days, while carbon dioxide lingers for hundreds of years. Not only that, but the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere creates a synergistic effect. That is, the more it accumulates, the more damage it does.
In addition to the fact that water vapor only stays in the atmosphere for a few days (remember rain?), in order for water vapor to be a significant factor in climate change, scientists would first have to demonstrate that humans had caused a significant increase in the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere. There is no evidence that this is true. If water vapor were indeed responsible for global warming, there would be an observable slow buildup of water vapor in the atmosphere. No such buildup is occurring with water vapor, but it is occurring with carbon dioxide. This buildup of carbon dioxide is an observed, measurable fact. Not so with water vapor.
If you’ve had a basic secondary school science education, you know that water vapor is highly dependent on temperature. Any excess water vapor in the atmosphere is rapidly lost in the form of rain, snow, fog, or other precipitation. There is no buildup of water vapor over time. On the other hand, carbon dioxide continues to accumulate in the atmosphere. Even if all carbon dioxide emissions stopped all over the world today, it would still take hundreds of years for the atmosphere to return to pre-industrial levels of carbon dioxide.
To think of it in another way, there is no limit on the amount of rain that can fall, but there is a limit to the amount of carbon dioxide the Earth’s plants, animals and oceans can absorb. The surplus carbon dioxide that doesn’t get absorbed goes into the atmosphere to accumulate.
There are other greenhouse gases, such as methane from ‘cow burps’ and other sources, but the amount of these gases that are currently in the atmosphere pale in significance to the amount of carbon dioxide. When analyzing for relative effects of all the current greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, scientists have determined that carbon dioxide caused by human activities is responsible for over two-thirds of observed climate change.
So the short answer is that water vapor could be considered a greenhouse gas, but when compared to carbon dioxide, water vapor’s capacity for warming is the equivalent of a lit match to carbon dioxide’s atomic bomb.
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