Re: GreenHouse Gas, H2O?

On Jun 1, 12:03 pm, Igor <thoov...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Water vapor is indeed a greenhouse gas, but the amount in the
atmosphere continually fluctuates even on a daily basis. If carbon
dioxide did the same, it probably wouldn't be as much of a problem.

I got into a discussion with someone about CO2 being a greenhouse gas
but he stumped me with a comment about "saturation".

CO2 has these huge absorption bands in the IR but (and I'm looking at
my super-duper atmospheric spectrum wall chart) it's a BIG
absorption. I mean, it looks like CO2 is absorbing 99.999% of the IR
light. So what does it matter if CO2 concentrations go up and the
absorption increases to 99.9999%?

I didn't know how to counter this arguement. Any ideas? Or is this
guy correct and CO2 conc. is a paper tiger?

Dwib


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: GreenHouse Gas, H2O?
    ... atmosphere continually fluctuates even on a daily basis. ... I got into a discussion with someone about CO2 being a greenhouse gas ... CO2 has these huge absorption bands in the IR but (and I'm looking at ... that saturation of CO2 and H2O, ...
    (sci.physics)
  • Re: GreenHouse Gas, H2O?
    ... atmosphere continually fluctuates even on a daily basis. ... I got into a discussion with someone about CO2 being a greenhouse gas ... CO2 has these huge absorption bands in the IR but (and I'm looking at ... So what does it matter if CO2 concentrations go up and the ...
    (sci.physics)
  • Re: GreenHouse Gas, H2O?
    ... atmosphere continually fluctuates even on a daily basis. ... it looks like CO2 is absorbing 99.999% of the IR ... then if I wear one on top of the other ... that saturation of CO2 and H2O, ...
    (sci.physics)
  • Re: Proving Global Warming (Newsnight item)
    ... with air and the other being filled with air heavily enhanced with CO2 ... The temperature rise in each case is dependent upon the specific heat ... The notion of greenhouse gases involves absorption of longer ... Significant reductions in carbon usage is going to have a considerable impact on our way of life, as we really don't have any viable alternatives on the table to replace fossil fuel at the moment. ...
    (uk.politics.misc)
  • Re: Proving Global Warming (Newsnight item)
    ... with air and the other being filled with air heavily enhanced with CO2 ... The temperature rise in each case is dependent upon the specific heat ... The notion of greenhouse gases involves absorption of longer ... Significant reductions in carbon usage is going to have a considerable impact on our way of life, as we really don't have any viable alternatives on the table to replace fossil fuel at the moment. ...
    (uk.politics.misc)