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2011-01-07 05:54:24 | Interesting lecture on water vapour | |
PeteM Pete Murphy pete_murphy65c@btinternet... 86.174.161.75 |
I got pointed to the following lecture by Professor Tennyson as Univeristy College London http://www.ucl.ac.uk/lhl/lhlpub_spring09/09_240209 I came to the conclusion that water vapour is a stronger green house gas than previously believed ? Is this a correct interpretation - if so would it be fair to say that CO2 warming may cause some extra problems as water vapour levels increase ? | |
2011-01-07 20:51:28 | ||
nealjking nealjking@gmail... 91.33.99.72 |
PeteM, Haven't taken the time to view the talk; but you questions puzzle me. Water vapor has always been regarded as the major greenhouse gas; but its impact is not increasing much, because its concentration is linked to average temperature. As global temperatures rise, the water vapor concentration and impact will also increase. So there is a well-known enhancement of the direct CO2 impact. | |
2011-01-08 00:27:31 | ||
PeteM Pete Murphy pete_murphy65c@btinternet... 86.135.170.231 |
Thanks - that's my understanding . The interesting thing in the talk is that Prof Tennyson's research ( from a few years ago) has found that water vapour is a slightly stronger absorber of IR radiation than the data previously logged in the HITRAN database indicated. This was a combination of not enough details in the known bands and understimates of some of the absoption properties. So my musing (and I'm an amateur here) was that a bit more water vapour in the air ( due to CO2 warming etc ) will have a slightly stronger water vapour warming which implies some ( small) extra greenhouse warming ...
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2011-01-08 00:33:07 | ||
Paul D chillcast@googlemail... 82.18.130.183 |
Interesting lecture. It does seem like they are inferring water vapour is a bit more potent. About 11 W/m2 for the missing spectra? He was also saying that other groups are gradually increasing their figures towards Prof Tennysoons numbers.
It is interesting that water has the capacity to exist in extreme temperature environments. |