However, water vapor does not control the Earth’s temperature, but is instead controlled by the temperature. The amount of water vapor the atmosphere can hold is dependent on temperature.
A greenhouse gas, like carbon dioxide, it represents around 80 percent of total greenhouse gas mass in the atmosphere and 90 percent of greenhouse gas volume. The atmosphere is self-limiting in terms of water vapor. Therefore, the amount of water retained by the atmosphere as water vapor can vary. One of the important and microscopic characteristics of the condensation process is that water vapor will not condense into liquid water very easily unless it condenses onto a foreign object, such as the tiny hairlike structures on grasses or dust and pollen particles on windshields. According to Schmidt, this means water vapor accounts for approximately 25°C of the warming. Under normal conditions, most of the heat emitted from Earth’s surface in the form of long wave radiation goes into the atmosphere and out into space. Atmospheric Water Vapor contains the technical proceedings of the International Workshop on Atmospheric Water Vapor held in Vail, Colorado, on September 11-13, 1979. Water vapor and clouds account for 66 to 85 percent of the greenhouse effect, compared to a range of 9 to 26 percent for CO2. A greenhouse gas, like carbon dioxide, it represents around 80 percent of total greenhouse gas mass in the atmosphere and 90 percent of greenhouse gas volume. The amount of water vapour in the atmosphere is a direct response to the amount of CO 2 and the other long-lived greenhouse gases, increasing as they do. Water vapor is the most abundant greenhouse gas on Earth. Evaporation is when water is turned into water vapor by heat. However, water vapor cannot be controlled by human intervention; it is simply a product of its environment. The amount of water vapor ranges from a trace amount up to 4% of the mass of air. On average, it probably accounts for about 60% of the warming effect. The amount of water vapor in air varies according to the temperature and density of air. However, the mean annual precipitation for the planet is about 1 meter, which indicates a rapid turnover of water in the air. The annual mean global concentration of water vapor would yield about 25 mm of liquid water over the entire surface of the Earth if it were to instantly condense. First, the good news: We've found water vapor in the atmosphere of a planet in the habitable zone of its star. When it is warmer, water evaporates into the atmosphere, and when it it colder there is less.