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The most abundant variable gas.
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Water vapor is supplied to the atmosphere by evaporation
from
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the surface and is removed
from the atmosphere by
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condensation (clouds and rains).
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The concentration of water vapor is maximum near the surface
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and the tropics (~ 0.25% of the atmosphere by volume) and
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decreases rapidly toward higher altitudes and latitude (~ 0% of
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the atmosphere).
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Water vapor is important to climate because it is a greenhouse
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gas that can absorb thermal energy emitted by Earth, and can
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release “latent heat” to fuel weather phenomena.
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