<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9127462#post9127462 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Rosseau
I'm not considering carbon sinks etc., i'm assuming they stay the same.......
Well, not really. Oil is a carbon sink, now it's obviously a source. Trees are huge sinks, and the regrowth of US forests actually makes the US a NET CO2 SINK. Ironic, isn't it? But yeah, carbon sinks change all the time.
http://www.princeton.edu/pr/news/00/q4/1110-global.htm
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9127829#post9127829 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MCary
BTW, do you know what the most abundant GHG is? Water vapor. Water vapor causes increased atmospheric CO2. So, is CO2 causing global warming, or is global warming causing increased CO2? Or since periods with rapidly increasing CO2 levels also saw decreased global temps, (example 1970's), maybe neither.
I know Hippie will disagree, and will probably site good reasons why, but it still makes you go hmmmmmmmmmm and want to know the answer right?
Mike
How does water vapor increase atmospheric CO2?
You are correct about water vapor having the most impact on GW, but there's a catch. Water vapor is temperature dependent, whereas CO2 isn't. CO2 will give a sort of baseline temp for the planet (along with methane, solar variations, bagillions of other factors, etc) that isn't temp dependent. Of course methane is released from melting permafrost, so I guess methane could be temp dependent, sort of, but not directly. Anyway, increase the global temp avg above freezing and more vapor is available for warming. Drop the temp below freezing, and all of a sudden water vapor doesn't matter anymore, whereas CO2 does. CO2 has a multiplying effect on warming for that reason, a positive feedback loop.
However, water vapor also condenses and reflects sunlight, thereby helping to cool the planet. So, meh, I'm sure there are varying concentrations of vapor and CO2 and temp that give different warming trends. Point is, we don't know for sure how this part of the equation will play out.
http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/gases.html
BUT, CO2 warms, and there is WAYYYY too much of it right now. So, by the time vapor, condensed droplets, and CO2 reach a relatively steady equilibrium temp, the damage is probably already done.