There
is no climate model or climate textbook that does not discuss the
role water vapor plays in the Greenhouse Effect. It is the strongest
Greenhouse gas, contributing 66% to 85% to the overall effect when
you include clouds. It is however, not
considered as a climate "forcing"
because the amount of H2O in the air varies basically as a function
of temperature. If you artificially increase the level of H2O
in the air, it rains out immediately (in terms of climate response
times), similarly, due to the abundance of sea surface, if you
somehow removed water from the air it would quickly be replaced
through evaporation.
CO2
put into the air by burning fossil fuels, on the other hand, has an
atmospheric lifetime of centuries before natural sinks will
significantly absorb any excess from the air. This is
plenty of time to have substantial and even longer lasting effects of
the climate system.
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