Quote:
Originally Posted by kawishiwi
And with additional warmth comes even more respiration of carbon. And more permafrost melt starting to release a truly epic addtional carbon load, followed by even warmer temps and even more respiration, and...well...you get the point. What we know from direct measurement over 200 years or so is that carbon dioxide is 40% higher than it was 200 years ago. With co2 still being less that 1% of total atmosphere you might be tempted to think its not a big deal. Except that tiny portion of co2 is crazy good at capturing heat. There are other gases that trap more per molecule but they have a short presence in the atmosphere. Co2 is with us for around 100 years. We are throwing fuel on the fire in a sense. Long lasting fuel.
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Actually many gases have much longer lifetimes and Global warming potential vastly greater than CO2. Water vapor has a very short lifetime and potentially contributes between 1/3 to 3/4 of any warming that may or may not be occurring. Since 70% of the earth's surface is covered in water, there is a virtually unlimited source of this greenhouse gas. Water vapor effects are much greater than CO2.
Further, although CO2 has increased, temperatures have not. So the theoretical impacts of CO2 have yet to be proven in the extremely complex climate system.