Stratospheric water vapor “climate feedback” contributes to global warming

New research from faculty at Texas A&M University and University of Colorado finds that water vapor in the stratosphere contributes to warmer global temperatures, according to a release. Their findings were recently published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers say that water vapor in the atmosphere increases in tandem with increases in the earth’s surface temperature. The correlation places a link between the two and makes it clear that simple water vapor also acts as a greenhouse gas given the right circumstances.

The team from Texas worked alongside others from University of Colorado’s Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, which has access to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Earth System Research Laboratory. CIRES is operated jointly by the university and NOAA.