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- #41
We KNOW that water vapor retains heat.
We KNOW that CO2 does not.
Are you comparing apples to oranges'? Are you talking about the latent heat of phase change in the water cycle?
CO2 makes the atmosphere opaque to 15 micron IR, forcing that energy to take the slow route of diffusion through the atmosphere until the density drops enough that it can escape to space.
Water vapour makes the atmosphere opaque for some wavelengths, semi opaque for others, and forces that energy to take the slow route of diffusion up until the precipitating cloudtops where the water vapour condenses and returns to the surface, releasing the latent heat of phase change that was necessary to turn water into water vapour. The water vapour free atmosphere above the cloudtops allows escape for the wavelengths previously intercepted by WV.