Reply #110: 1) Do you know what a "stawman arguement" even is? [View All]

[sudopod]

2) Some of the stuff in that article doesn't make any sense.

"Q: Could you rank the things that have the most significant impact and where would you put carbon dioxide on the list?

A: Well let me give you one fact first. In the first 30 feet of the atmosphere, on the average, outward radiation from the Earth, which is what CO2 is supposed to affect, how much is absorbed by water vapor? In the first 30 feet, 80 percent, okay? "

Q: Eighty percent of the heat radiated back from the surface is absorbed in the first 30 feet by water vapor…

A: And how much is absorbed by carbon dioxide? Eight hundredths of one percent. One one-thousandth as important as water vapor. You can go outside and spit and have the same effect as doubling carbon dioxide.


What? http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2005/04/water-vapour-feedback-or-forcing/">Studies by folks who aren't speaking off the cuff to a publication that includes pie recipes seem to indicate that water vapor does dominate, but the ratio of the impact of H20 and C02 is not .001. Moreover, the concentration of moisture in the air increases as a function of atmospheric temperature, so H2O amplifies the effect of the other greenhouse gasses.

Also, comparing 5 day forecasts to climate is ridiculous, they're entirely different things. It's the difference between a spot measurement of a quantity and its average over a long span of time.