TNRTB Archive - Retained for reference information

The transport of water into the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere plays a role in determining three life-critical factors: how much incident solar radiation is reflected away, how much stratospheric cooling occurs, and how much ozone is depleted. Recently, atmospheric physicists discovered the physical mechanisms responsible for the flow of water into the upper troposphere and the lower stratosphere. Some of the ice crystals there formed in situ while the remainder arrive there from a combination of convection and gradual ascent. Thus, several different mechanisms operating in Earth’s atmosphere must be fine-tuned for advanced life to survive on Earth.

Christopher R. Webster and Andrew J. Heymsfield, “Water Isotope Ratios D/H. ¹⁸O/¹⁶O. ¹⁷O/¹⁶O in and out of Clouds Map Dehydration Pathways,” Science, 302 (2003), pp. 1742-1745.

 http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/302/5651/1742

RTB article: Facts for Faith article on the anthropic principle

RTB books: The Creator and the Cosmos, 3^rd edition