Andrew Dessler is an atmospheric scientist at Texas A&M University. He's an expert on water vapor, the most abundant greenhouse gas in Earth's atmosphere. At a science meeting in late 2009, Dessler told EarthSky that the effect water vapor plays in global warming is now understood.
Andrew Dessler:One of the durable urban legends you hear is that the models don't get water vapor right, or we don't understand water vapor. And that's no longer the case.
Dessler explained that water vapor has been proven to be a major contributor to global warming. He said carbon dioxide emissions provide the initial warming, by increasing surface temperatures on the planet. Warmer temperatures cause more water to be evaporated off the oceans, which in
