Water vapor and global warming

Did you know that ~98% of the global warming effect comes from water vapor? It is true. The concentration of water vapor in the atmosphere is ~10,000 ppm and the concentration of CO2 is only ~400 ppm, so there is 25 times more water vapor than CO2, more or less (less at the poles, more in the tropics). Also, radiative heat transfer books tell us that each water vapor molecule is about twice as effective at absorbing the heat radiated upwards from the surface (at ~10,000 nm wavelength), and equally transparent to heat radiated from the sun (~500 nm wavelength). So, water vapor is 50 times more important than CO2, and therefore provides 98% of the effect. This is why relatively large changes in the CO2 concentration (like doubling) have only a minor effect on global temperatures (like a few degrees). With 67% of the earth’s surface being water, the dominant dynamic is the condensation and evaporation of water from lakes and oceans, and cloud formation. But those factors are much, much harder to predict than the CO2 concentration, which varies slowly and consistently. Since the global warming models must include the effect of atmospheric water vapor and clouds, the global warming models are tenuous, at best.

Yet, pollsters tell us tha that 59% of American are "convinced [that] global warming [is] under way," only 33% "think it will affect [their] own life" and 38% "favor immediate government action." I saw those numbers on Jun21 at http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/ (by James Taranto). Sinc e it cannot be proven that global warming is happening, why do they believe? Hmm, sounds like religion to me. Say, isn’t that what Ann Coulter says in her new book, “Godless: The Church of Liberalism”? :)