Re: Runaway Global Warming Possible!

From: charliew2 (charliew_at_ev1.net)
Date: 02/09/05 

Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2005 12:07:18 -0600

"*** Morris" <ramorris@isomedia.com> wrote in message
news:110k5cvsn35hf00@corp.supernews.com...
>
> "gresham" <Gresham3@cox.net> wrote in message
> news:BE25185A.9EFE%Gresham3@cox.net...
> > in article ndGdnUafXraCLWLcRVn-jw@whidbeytel.com, ošin at
> o?in@ragnarok.com
> > wrote on 2/1/05 10:36 AM:
> >
> > >> OK, as I said, how can we increase a gas that traps heat and not have
> any
> > >> heat trapped? Is the gas changing its properties once in the
> atmosphere?
> > >> Is it magic?
> > >
> > > CO2 is a green house gas, so yes it does trap heat. And that does mean
> that
> > > the portion of CO2 that humans produces will increase temperatures.
But
> the
> > > IPCC models cannot be trusted to predict the size of this effect. They
> also
> > > cannot determine whether all the other effects (direct and feedabck)
on
> > > temperature will have an opposing effect, so it is still not clear if
> the
> > > temp will go up or down.
> > >
> > >
> > You are quite right in all you say, but the real important factor is
that
> > CO2 is a very minor part of the atmosphere (abt. .04%). The real green
> > house gas that traps a lot of heat is our friend water vapor. So why
> pick
> > on CO2 ? Because they can.
>
> The amount of water vapor that the atmosphere can hold depends on the
> temperature. A large part of the projected warming due to human emissions
of
> CO2 is in fact due to the increased amount of water vapor in the
atmosphere
> due to the CO2 induced warming.
>

***,

I view this as an overly simplistic assertion. Water vapor is an excellent
heat transfer medium, meaning that as temperatures rise and the water vapor
content of the atmosphere increases, there will be increases in convective
heat transfer as water vapor condenses into rain high in the atmosphere. If
you take a look at the percent increase in water vapor per deg F, you will
see that the concentration of water vapor rises at a substantial rate at the
current average temperature of the earth.

Other negative feedbacks include increased cloudiness as more water vapor
condenses, and possibly more snowfall at high lattitudes (increased albedo).
I am not trying to paint a totally rosy picture on this issue, but I am
trying to point out that many of the feedbacks are negative precisely
because water vapor is condensable (obviously, CO2 is not).

> > What could you do about clouds ? ASSUMING
> that
> > all this has anything to do with anything at all.
> > gresham
> >
> >
>
>
>
>