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Satellite Data Shows It's Getting Warmer and Wetter
posted: 01:59 pm ET
28 January 2000
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warmer_wetter_000128 New satellite data shows that Earth's atmosphere has grown warmer and wetter over the past 11 years, with the amount of water vapor increasing 2 percent. In a study appearing in the January 27 issue of the journal Nature, researchers compared measurements of sea surface temperature, air temperature and humidity from three satellites. "The three satellites combined provide some of the strongest evidence so far of a climate trend of increasing air temperature and humidity," said Frank Wentz, a physicist at Remote Sensing Systems. "Water vapor is really the primary greenhouse gas in the atmosphere and has a greater influence on global warming than carbon dioxide, but we're not sure whether this increase of water in the atmosphere will lead to an increase in global warming." Comparing the three data sets showed an expected outcome, according to Wentz and his colleagues: As air temperature increases, the atmosphere is able to hold more water; and as the Earth's global temperature increases, the amount of water in the atmosphere would be expected to increase. The data came from instruments aboard the Advanced Very High-Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), the Microwave Sounding Unit (MSU) and a Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSMI). Wentz cautioned that 11 years is a very short time to observe changes in global climate. The study did not consider any possible human contributions to climate change.
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