At one time there was a proposal to inject the Earth’s upper atmosphere with sulfate particles and effectively block the rays of the sun from reaching the Earth.  The basic idea was to limit the effects of global warming by allowing less sunlight to reach the Earth’s surface.  As a general rule, such mass mitigation into the Earth’s natural state would not seem wise.

A report just issued by the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or NOAA announces a reported 10% drop in water vapor within the earth’s stratosphere.  As water vapor is considered to be one of the basic greenhouse emissions gases, the 10% drop in any one major constituent would have and apparently did have a major overall effect on surface temperature and atmospheric warming.  As with the not so brilliant idea of sulfate particle injection, anything including water vapor that blocks the full effect of the sun’s radiation can result in cooler earth surface temperatures.  But anything and in this case the thing being more vapor that stops reflected heat from the earth from transmitting into space yields a greenhouse effect.

Even though the last 10 years were the overall hottest decade in the last 200 years on earth, the rate of temperature increase as compared to the 1980s and 1990s significantly slowed.  This examination of water vapor as a major component of the global warming recipe allows for confirmation of climate change models in many areas.  NOAA scientists are now suggesting that the approximately 25% slower rate of temperature increase shown through the last 10 years is directly attributable to the 10% decrease in upper stratosphere water vapor.  Greenhouse gas particles directly injected into this small area of our atmosphere 30 miles above the earth seem to be far more potent in their ability to affect surface and atmosphere temperatures.  This supports the widely accepted belief that vapor and other emissions from commercial aircraft might present the greatest overall global warming threat.