I have a question about carbon dioxide in the environment?

Question

I was engaged in a discussion witl a friend last night about global warming,and he was saying that is is all c**p.I disagree,but he told me water is the biggest contributer of co2 immisions on the earth,now i was never to good at science.Does water let out carbon dioxide?If so why is this never factored in the equasion, i wached six degrees on the national geographic channel and they didn't say anything about it. I do believe we are damaging our planet,but if water is the main source of carbon it almost seems like a natural occourancs and theres nothing we can do to stop it

Answer 1

Water vapour in the atmosphere is a greenhouse gas like carbon dioxide and there is much more of it.  However water recycles quickly and does not build up unlike carbon dioxide which has increased by 30% in the last 100 years.  The increasing carbon dioxide due to man's activities is having an as yet small but ever increasing effect on the climate.

Answer 2

it probably does have oxygen and carbon in it. so carbon dioxide, co2, is probably in it. but that has nothing to do with the global warming the worlds talking about. co2 is emitted by a lot of things naturally, when we breath in oxygen, we breath out co2. plants absorb co2 to use in photosynthesis, so it evens out naturally. but humans came along with their planes, trains, busses, trucks, nuclear power plants, factories, coal burning plants, and all sorts of other harmful inventions. from 1000 a.d. to 1800 a.d. (800 years) co2 levels didnt go up or down more than 7 ppm. they stayed at an average 278 ppm. in 1958, it was 315 ppm. 158 years  and 37 ppm increase. it was 378 in 2004. 46 years and 63 ppm increase. all this info btw was from the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. government funded research is usually pretty straightforward.

Answer 3

I think that what you friend was referring to is that water vapour is believed to have a similar impact to the greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. However,because it is not a predictable constant, IPCC and others do not use it in their models.  They have been critised in the past about this.

Answer 4

nooo...i don't think so..the main reason for increase in co2 is pollution caused by different factors such as vehicles.....

Answer 5

He is referring to the oceans.  They are carbon sinks.  When the earth heats up they emit cco2, and when it cools down they absorb co2.

More info here:

http://www.fox11az.com/news/topstories/s...

http://wattsupwiththat.wordpress.com/200...

Why do they not take it into account?  It is called an academic debate. It is normal.

People who believe the AGW theory will try to convince you by saying  there is no debate on this issue.  But that is just garbage.

Answer 6

As to the extent of my knowledge water does not release C02, but the manufacturing of bottle water is a growing industry that is pollution our air and is using up plastic, which does not decompose when put into landfills, and when plastic is melted it releases harmful gases into our air. So he may be looking at it that way.

- Humans ARE the cause of global warming

there is no use in being in denial.

Answer 7

water doesnt let out carbon dioxide.  but water, H20 is a greenhouse gas, which means it traps heat in the atmosphere.  so is methane.  a lot of things are.  water doesnt even have carbon in it.  it is 2 hydrogen and one oxygen molecule.

but it is true that global warming isnt caused by man.

Answer 8

It sounds like your friend watched "The Great Global Warming Swindle", and got swindled.

One scientist (Carl Wunsch) interviewed for TGGWS talked about one of the biggest threats of "climate tipping":  if the oceans warm up enough, they will go from carbon sinks to carbon sources and accelerate climate change without any further human influence.  However, the producers editted his footage to imply that he was saying that was the situation NOW.

He has asked for his interview to be removed from the film, though the producers have no legal obligation to do so.  This sort of blatant fraud seems to be standard practice for the denialists.

Answer 9

Your friend is wrong, but this is a very common misunderstanding.

It's true that water vapor is the biggest contributor to the greenhouse effect on Earth, but it does not cause global warming.

95% of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are water vapor.  However, water vapor is a weak greenhouse gas, so it only accounts for 36-66% of the greenhouse effect.

But the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere depends entirely on the temperature of the atmosphere.  If the planet warms, the atmosphere can hold more water vapor, and it can then increase the greenhouse effect.  Water vapor itself cannot initiate global warming, so something else (like increased CO2 in the atmosphere due to humans burning fossil fuels) has to cause the warming.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_...

Answer 10

No, a lot of people say **** about carbon emissions, but nitrogen compounds and water VAPOR are also major greenhouse gases.

This is why some people are currently shitting their pants about global warming - If the temperature increases, melts ice, vaporizes water, then the water vapor adds to the greenhouse effect... so the temperature increases, the ice melts, the water vaporizes....

There is no carbon in water.

"carbon emissions" is just a bizarre offshoot of the environmental movement.

Answer 11

Water vapour is the biggest greenhouse gas (36-66%), followed by Carbon Dioxide, Methane, Nitrous Oxide and Ozone. Much of the global warming is due to water vapour. Your friend is right !