Jonathan Schofield20h ago

Humidity:

The most abundant and consequential climate heating component in the atmosphere is water vapour.

But it’s *very* unevenly distributed.

CO2 is mostly inert, so it dissipates, becoming highly uniformly distributed.

Its warming effect draws more water into the air.

(Update: https://mastodon.social/@urlyman/116811091773280114)

A lot of the water that was in the land is now in the air 😥

We should stop emitting vast amounts of CO2 that was in the ground

https://www.theclimatebrink.com/p/how-rising-water-vapour-in-the-atmosphere

#climateDiary

Show threadJonathan Schofield19h ago

…One of the most effective ways to emit CO2 that was in the ground is to take a flight.

Taking a flight is thus an effective way to increase the probability of shortening one’s own life and those of everyone one cares about.

We should stop doing that because it is stupid

Show threadJonathan Schofield19h ago

…Here’s a list of the 10 airlines with the largest total passenger miles. They are thus among the most stupid businesses on Earth. (There are thousands of contenders in other sectors.)

United Airlines
American Airlines
Delta Airlines
Emirates
Southwest Airlines
Qatar Airways
Ryanair
China Southern Airlines
Turkish Airlines
China Eastern Airlines

When we see some of those names writ large around #WorldCup matches we should read the word STUPID (see above posts)

Show threadJonathan Schofield

…Bottom line, if we don’t want stupid heat, we should stop doing the most stupid things that generate stupid heat 🤷‍♂️

#heatwave

Jun 25 at 7:10amIvory for iOS
Show threadJonathan Schofield12h ago

…At the top of this thread, where the parentheses now are in the OP, I said

“air is becoming wetter as well as hotter”.

But since posting that I learn today that hotter air doesn’t mean greater average humidity overall.

In ways I confess I don’t understand and need to do more reading on, even though there is more evaporation and the air is capable of holding more water, apparently *relative humidity* stays the same even as temperature rises

Show threadJonathan Schofield12h ago
…Initial reading up on relative humidity at https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/learn-about/weather/types-of-weather/humidity
Understanding humidity

Humidity refers to the amount of water vapour present in the air. It has an important influence on our atmosphere, affecting weather, climate, and even human and animal health.

Met Office
Show threadAndrew Henry12h ago

@urlyman

It’s psychrometrics.

Everything becomes clearer once you can understand how a psychrometric chart works. Blew my mind.

———

Psychrometrics (or psychrometry, from Greek ψυχρόν (psuchron) 'cold' and μέτρον (metron) 'means of measurement'; (also called hygrometry) is the field of engineering concerned with the physical and thermodynamic properties of gas-vapor mixtures.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychrometrics

Psychrometrics - Wikipedia

Show threadJonathan Schofield12h ago
@AndrewHenry thanks. Will have a read
Show threadAndrew Henry12h ago

@urlyman

It is especially useful for building science.

It explains why relative humidity inside a Canadian home in January is 20% when outside the relative humidity is 80%.