<p>The Hunga Tonga volcanic eruption is a grand experiment in play about Stratospheric Water Vapor. It has persisted almost 3 years in the Stratosphere, and has warmed the world to record levels and caused record setting low sea ice in Antarctica. The evidence is pretty clear, stop flying jets and the world will cool to pre-aviation temperatures. Every year humanity is venting 50 - 95 billion gallons of water in the Stratosphere, and very little of it shows up as contrails.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-06-13T08:38:17.310Z
Can you at least give a calculation on this 50-95 billion gallons of water vented (most aviation flies in the troposphere, btw)??
JeopardyTempest
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-06-13T08:46:33.127Z
Water injected by this eruption has been calculated to cause a 0.1 W/m2 radiative forcing, way below radiative forcing generated by human activities.
Jean-Marie Prival
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-06-12T17:36:41.720Z
2024-06-12T17:36:41.720Z
LT3
<p>Water vapor is the most significant greenhouse gas in the Earth's atmosphere. However, tropospheric water vapor has a short atmospheric half-life. Therefore, anthropogenic surface-level water vapor emissions are generally not considered to significantly contribute to climate change.</p>
<p>On the other hand, stratospheric water vapor has a much longer half-life. Anthropogenic emission sources of stratospheric water include exhaust gases from aviation. What is the current scientific understanding of the significance of these emissions? How much do they contribute compared to other anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions? How much do they contribute compared to CO<sub>2</sub> emissions from aviation? Is the contribution different on shorter and longer timescales?</p>

<climate-change><atmosphere><water-vapour><stratosphere>
What is the role of stratospheric water vapor emissions in climate change?
ntoskrnl
# What is the role of stratospheric water vapor emissions in climate change?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-09-02)

Water vapor is the most significant greenhouse gas in the Earth's atmosphere. However, tropospheric water vapor has a short atmospheric half-life. Therefore, anthropogenic surface-level water vapor emissions are generally not considered to significantly contribute to climate change.

On the other hand, stratospheric water vapor has a much longer half-life. Anthropogenic emission sources of stratospheric water include exhaust gases from aviation. What is the current scientific understanding of the significance of these emissions? How much do they contribute compared to other anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions? How much do they contribute compared to CO2 emissions from aviation? Is the contribution different on shorter and longer timescales?

**Tags:** climate-change, atmosphere, water-vapour, stratosphere


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2024-06-12. Score: -2

The Hunga Tonga volcanic eruption is a grand experiment in play about Stratospheric Water Vapor. It has persisted almost 3 years in the Stratosphere, and has warmed the world to record levels and caused record setting low sea ice in Antarctica. The evidence is pretty clear, stop flying jets and the world will cool to pre-aviation temperatures. Every year humanity is venting 50 - 95 billion gallons of water in the Stratosphere, and very little of it shows up as contrails.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: Can you at least give a calculation on this 50-95 billion gallons of water vented (most aviation flies in the troposphere, btw)??  
> **username_3**: Water injected by this eruption has been calculated to cause a 0.1 W/m2 radiative forcing, way below radiative forcing generated by human activities.  

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