Comment Re: This is huge (Score 1) 308
Ok, here is what I have never understood about climate change science. The premise that elevated levels of carbon dioxide will lead to elevated temperatures on the planet.
The reason that this is weird to me is that water vapor is a much more effective "greenhouse gas" than CO2.
Water vapor is the gaseous form of water that is the result of evaporation and sublimation of liquid water and ice from the surface. The higher the temperature, the more water vapor that can be dissolved into the atmospheric solution. When the levels of water vapor in the atmosphere reaches its saturation point in the atmosphere surplus water vapor precipitates out in the form of rain.
The problem is that additional things dissolved in the atmosphere, like CO2, reduce the amount of room available for water vapor. That means that the more CO2 (less effective greenhouse gas) there is in the atmosphere, the less room there is for water vapor (more effective greenhouse gas). It is basically like replacing a nice warm comforter with a cheap thin sheet.
So, using the premise that the carbon dioxide we are adding to the atmosphere is enough to effect change in the climate, why is the temperature not decreasing since we are displacing (trading) the good insulator (water vapor) for a poor one (CO2)?