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This is a handout of text for slides about the effect of carbon dioxide (CO2) in warming the Earth’s atmosphere. It shows that water vapor ranges from 0.1 to 44.0 times that of CO2. The increased heat content (enthalpy) of the atmosphere by CO2 causes a maximum temperature increase of 0.006 deg C from the Poles to the Equator. This amount is too small to measure. These quantitative results indicate that the Tropics, representing 39.8% of the Earth’s surface, contain almost three-quarters of the atmosphere’s water vapor. In contrast, the Arctic and Antarctic areas at the Poles have an estimated 0.9% of the atmosphere’s water vapor. Water vapor is the significant greenhouse gas that keeps the Earth from being a frozen planet.

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