are climate change deniers naturally gullible?, page-113

Excellent Post Butcherboy!

I have no claim to be any kind of expert in Atmospherics or Chemical Engineering. But, it is totally logical to me that water vapour plays a significant role in the 'Greenhouse Effect'. I spent some years involved in commercial Greenhouses and know quite well how water vapour performs in what is, albeit, a closed and controlled micro-climate. It is also totally logical that the atmosphere will absorb more water vapour when temperature rises. However there is a point where the moisture level can go no higher at the temperatures which exist and it of course precipitates. Ok..we know all that.

To say that atmospheric moisture does not play a part in the so called Greenhouse effect is folly in my opinion also, so I totally agree with your rationale Butcherboy.

Although the atmosphere thins the higher we go and therefore can not hold as much moisture, if the temperature is increasing( due to higher CO2 etc)at higher altitudes then the air can absorb more moisture..so the water column in the atmosphere is much larger.
Atmospheric density therefore increases and has the bifold effect of retaining heat and reducing the amount of solar insolation hitting the ground due to absorption, refraction and reflection.

Another point regarding atmospheric moisture is that following the scientific notion that the higher we go the cooler it gets et al moisture must reduce. Yes it does reduce but the effect most feared, is that at extremely high altitudes ice crystals form which may produce an even more reflective layer thereby increasing the Albedo and reflecting more sunlight back into space. This does happen and has always happened, but if this process is intensified this could have a dramatic effect.

One of the big contributors in assisting this to happen is a totally man made one. Aircraft flying at very high altitudes depositing fine particles, around which ice crystals form. Given the amount of air traffic around the world each day 24/7, this is no small factor.

Ok,,I wont rattle on boring all with my half baked knowledge but, one more thing. The Dalton Effect. This is a Solar Phenomenon which coincides with very low Sunspot activity. meaning that the Sun itself is approaching Solar Minimum where the sun actually cools a little. The last time this occured back in the 1830's the Earth experienced a virtual mini ice age. Thousands starved and died of cold..that is all history and can be easily checked.
The sun is currently heading into a period of very low activity( as evidenced by the lack of sunspot activity among other observable phenomena ie: reduced Solar Eruptions..we are now at about 200 days without any spots). There is much conjecture in the scientific community as to weather another Dalton effect is about to occur. The Suns behaviour cannot be accurately predicted due to insufficient historical data, but if a Dalton does occur this could lead to AVERAGE global temperature decreasing by as much as 5 degrees centigrade. The arguement curently is that if the Dalton Effect does indeed occur...possibly by about 2012-2015 period and the cooling effect occurs, it would be offset by the increased temperature created by the manmade Greenhouse Effect in effect nullifiying the Dalton. I am not so sure..perhaps we will not just have water ice to worry about...how about some dry ice to!

Yes man is creating problems for himself, undeniably so but there are more things under the sun than us. It make one wonder if Europe is experiencing such a cold one this year due to the( I wont even try to spell it) Icelandic Volcanoe which erupte earlier this year spewing tons of very fine ice forming nucleii high into the atmosphere.