On 07/28/2003 05:37 PM, Larry Woolf wrote:
> There are a wide variety of regions where the atmosphere is either
> completely absorbing, partially absorbing, or completely transparent
> to IR radiation due to the presence of CO2 in the 5-20 micron band
> where most of the terrestrial radiation lies.
I assume that word "regions" refers to regions
of the spectrum.
The friendly local IR astronomer told me that the
absorption varies according to _geographic_ region
mainly due to H2O. H2O is also the dominant
source of seasonal and daily variability, and
also the largest single contribution to the total
heat-trapping, or so I'm told.
This leads to a positive feedback scenario: higher
temperatures means more H2O in the atmosphere,
which means more heat-trapping, ...... I suppose
you have to imagine lots of gaseous H2O as opposed
to thick clouds that are opaque in the visible
(not just the IR).