Which greenhouse gases have more immediate effects on our environment?

Question

I know that the most common greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, water vapour, methane, and Nitrous oxide but which one(s) has the most immediate effect? and what effect does it have on our environment?

Answer 1

Water has the most significant greenhouse effect, but it is what is called a feedback effect.  Since water is constantly evaporating and condensing (raining), the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere is always changing.  This amount is highly dependent on temperature - as the temperature rises, more water evaporates and the temperature rises even more.  That is why scientists are so worried about carbon dioxide emissions and global warming.  Once it gets past a certain point (often called the tipping point) the feedback effect of the water cycle could take over and drive the temperature way up.

Answer 2

you're not looking at the problem correctly.

we, you and i and all of us, have evolved to exist in the climate that exists today.

wasn't long ago that there were less than 1 billion of us.

2000 years ago, maybe a few million.  if that.

today, something like 7% of all the people that have ever existed, in 200,000 years of our species existence, are alive, and hungry.

the problem that exists today is that we all want to eat.

and have a house,

and a place to put that house,

and clothes to wear,

and water to drink.

while it's been both hotter and colder in the past, and will be in the future, if we want to continue to exist as we have been, we'd better not change the climate -- in either direction.

clearly, water has the biggest effect.

you forgot to include methane.

the problem that exists is that the methane and CO2 we've added to the atmosphere will not be removed in the foreseeable future.

and will continue to warm the planet.

unlike water, which, when there's an excess, is removed as rain.