Climate Letter #2071

The greenhouse energy effect of precipitable water (PW). It’s time for a review of the most basic fundamentals. First of all, we need to have a clear definition of what it is we are talking about. What is meant by PW? What sets it apart as something special, deserving independent study? PW is closely related to water vapor, and in some situations is nothing but water vapor. In other situations it is composed in part of water vapor, with the remaining part divided into a variety of airborne particles, all of which originate through the condensation of water vapor in a higher level of altitude of the atmosphere. When water vapor condenses at lower altitudes, most commonly as dew, frost or fog, these products are not strictly precipitable, but there are unusual circumstances calling for further steps of advanced condensation at low altitude that do lead to precipitation—lake-effect snowfall is a well-known example. Our main concern in the study of PW covers the much greater volume of particles produced in a series of steps following the original condensation of water vapor at high elevations in the atmosphere, at least two miles above the surface.

For this particular purpose we need to make one more distinction, dividing all of the PW in the upper atmosphere into two basic categories, identified first of all in terms of location. One category, the larger of the two in total volume, exists within the atmospheric space directly above the tropical belt, confined to latitudes between about 15-20 degrees on each side of the Equator. The borders are not perfectly defined at any time, and tend to shift to the north or south in seasonal variation. Neither distinction is of any particular importantance. The critical difference between PW that exists in a tropical home, and the remaining volumes that belong within a pair of high-level spatial locations above the higher latitudes of each hemisphere, is basic to understanding the ambiguities surrounding PW’s greenhouse effect. The differences are driven by significant variation in modes of behavior of each of the three PW volumes contained within these three separate air-space references. The differences between tropical and extra-tropical behavior are profound. Extra-tropical behavior over each of the two hemispheres does have many similarities in style, but these do not necessarily lead to likenesses in outcome.

“Total” PW is a useful concept even if misleading. Ordinary usage includes all of the water vapor there is, plus the limited production of airborne-type condensation in the lower levels of the atmosphere, plus the greater quantities of more advanced condensation that form into a number of kinds of heavier particles in the higher levels. Total weights of all of this material can now be easily and accurately be measured within vertical columns from the surface to the top of the atmosphere. Total weight measurements at this time cannot be accurately divided into relative weights of each type of component, but there are ways to roughly estimate the weights of different classes of components. Those estimates become valuable to anyone who is curious to learn about any greenhouse energy effects that may end up being generated. Science knows quite a bit about greenhouse energy produced by given weights of water vapor in the air, which has enormously wide variations in distribution across the planet. In contrast, science has practically nothing to say about PW’s particle content having a greenhouse effect of its own’ As a partial exception, cloud cover does get credit for trapping considerable amounts of heat, and holding it close to the surface, but the mechanism involved in doing so is not well-defined.

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If PW’s heavier particles actually have a greenhouse effect of their own, it seems that the mechanism would need to differ in key respects from that employed by the greenhouse gases, including water vapor. These have been well-studied and evaluated. Each kind of gas has molecular properties allowing it to capture radiating photons specific to a limited range of wavelengths. Each capture by a molecule is quickly followed by re-emission of newly-created photons—which may be of the same wavelength, but I am unsure about that point. The particles that make up the content of PW other than water vapor are not known to occupy specific slots on the radiation bands in the same way that gases do; however, the possibility of their trapping and re-emitting photons of all different wavelengths remains open to investigation, and to the best of my knowledge has never been rejected. This capability would seemingly give the particles an elevated amount of greenhouse energy power, probably more than enough to offset the power lost by all the water vapor molecules that were consumed by condensation while structuring the formation of these particles in the first place. Still, these densely-packed molecular structures would have several limitations since most of the molecules would be stuck below the particle surfaces and thereby subjected to probable alterations in activity.

If we can leave open the possibility that these particles have their own kind of greenhouse energy effect, then all we have to do is to go out and look for it.  We still have to figure out how and where to do the looking.  The answer has been found, and the greenhouse effect has been measured, but science still does not know about it.  More tomorrow.

Carl

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