Moisture increases attributed to humans

[Xnn]

Total amount of atmospheric water vapor over the oceans on July 4, 2009. These results are from operational weather forecasts of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF)https://publicaffairs.llnl.gov/news/news_releases/2009/NR-09-08-01.html

In new research appearing in the Aug. 10 online issue of the Proceedings of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists and a group of international researchers found that model quality does not affect the ability to identify human effects on atmospheric water vapor.

“Climate model quality didn't make much of a difference,” said Benjamin Santer, lead author from LLNL's Program for Climate Modeling and Intercomparison. “Even with the computer models that performed relatively poorly, we could still identify a human effect on climate. It was a bit surprising. The physics that drive changes in water vapor are very simple and are reasonably well portrayed in all climate models, bad or good.”

The atmosphere's water vapor content has increased by about 0.4 kilograms per square meter per decade since 1988, and natural variability alone can't explain this moisture change, according to Santer. “The most plausible explanation is that it's due to human-caused increases in greenhouse gases,” he said.

 

[zmike]

Unfortunately, I'm unable to find any information on the total amount of atmospheric water vapor over the oceans on July 4, 2009 based on operational weather forecasts of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF). However, the research mentioned in this article suggests that human-caused increases in greenhouse gases are likely responsible for an increase in the atmosphere's water vapor content since 1988.

 

[Huyen401]

This is a very interesting study! It's amazing to see how even with varying levels of model quality, the human effect on atmospheric water vapor can still be identified. It really highlights the impact that human activities have on our climate. Do you think this research will have any implications for future climate modeling and predictions?