What happened to all of the water?

Question

It seems odd to blame droughts, and lower water levels in lakes, streams, and rivers on global warming.
1.) How much water can actually evaporate so far up into the atmosphere that it can actually escape the atmosphere and go into space?
2.) Does it not just crystalize at that altitude and form clouds?
3.) Would it not make more sense to blame it on the surpluss of bottled water, soda, and other beverages we manufacture, and stockpile in warehouses, and stores for purchase?
4.) How many gallons of water do you suppose are currently bottled somewhere that they may not return to the Earth?

Answer 1

The only problem I see with that argument is that water itself is a greenhouse gas. We have already determined that the water cycle is what we call a positive feedback, meaning it makes itself worse over time. Warmer air means more water in the air. More water in the air means more greenhouse effect and warmer air. It's a cycle.

So in that sense, global warming is definitely not self-regulating. That aspect of it will only get worse over time.

However, it is correct that the amount of water on Earth barely changes in any way at all. Water doesn't sit in a storeroom forever. It gets sold and then "recycled" into your toilet and back into the ecosystem. When you consider the vastness of the oceans, the amount of water that we have in bottles is practically zero.

Answer 2

The amount of water on earth remains pretty much the same even if some of it escape the atmosphere all the time. That's because it is compensated by new water in the form of meteors (mostly, dirty snow) falling in all the time (about 5,000 tons of it per year).
At 15°C, which is today's average temperature, the air can contain about 14 gr of water per cubic meter before it is saturated. When the average temperature increases, the air can contain more water before it has to condense as clouds.
With the global warming, there will be exactly the same amount of water on earth but; less in form of ice on the poles, more in the seas and more in the atmosphere. The latter will also increase the formation of clouds but it won't mean necessarily more rain because - as I said - the air now can contain more water.
On the other hand, and probably because of the Coriolis effect, we notice that the poles are getting warmer than the equator. The reason there are more storms in winter than summer is that the difference (and not the absolute temperature) between the pole and the equator is greater in the winter. More temperature difference means more thermal energy to create super convection in the low pressures. Global warming would, in principle, decrease the force of the storms in the winter. More water in the atmosphere could also limit to sun's warming of the earth surface so, global warming might be self-regulating.
The problem is; we don't know for sure and not knowing how it might end is scary enough in itself, don't you agree?

Answer 3

What is the source of your argument?