Peter Clack@PeterDClack
Water vapour is the world's only true 'warming' gas in the sense of supporting a moist, habitable planet.
It exists everywhere there is water - including the oceans, which occupy 71% of the Earth's surface. Water vapour dominates the atmosphere in the tropics, subtropics, and mid-latitudes. It saturates the air wherever it rains or snows and follows the trade winds that permanently encircle the globe.
In most regions, water vapour reaches concentrations of 40,000 ppm. By contrast, CO2 is a mere 420 ppm. This is the definition of a 'trace gas'; 4 molecules in every 10,000.
For context, our atmosphere is 78% Nitrogen and 21% Oxygen. CO2 makes up only 0.042%. Yet, we are told this trace gas is the 'primary control knob' for global temperature. Such language is riddled with assumptions.
Water vapour provides up to 70% of atmospheric heat retention. Deserts are the only places where it is largely absent - and predictably, these are the only places where temperatures plummet rapidly the moment the sun sets.
Deserts cover about 20% of the world's land area. Since land is only 28% of the Earth, deserts represent just 5.6% of the total surface. Only in this tiny fraction of the world does CO2 even attempt to 'lead'.
Water vapour has been intentionally overlooked by the global warming haberdashery.
When you look at the math and the physics of the open atmosphere, the CO2 narrative loses its footing. #ClimateScience #WaterVapour #GlobalGreening
