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Reports on the discovery made by two scientists regarding the Microwave Sounding Unit (MSU), a satellite used to make measurements of the temperature in the troposphere and the stratosphere. How the discovery makes findings more reliable; Details of the mistake made in reading the data from the MSU; How the findings effect how global warming trends are studied.

Ample physical evidence shows that carbon dioxide (CO²) is the single most important climate-relevant greenhouse gas in Earth's atmosphere. This is because CO², like ozone, N²O, CH4, and chlorofluorocarbons, does not condense and precipitate from the atmosphere at current climate temperatures, whereas water vapor can and does. Noncondensing greenhouse gases, which account for 25% of the total terrestrial greenhouse effect, thus serve to provide the stable temperature structure that sustains the current levels of atmospheric water vapor and clouds via feedback processes that account for the remaining 75% of the greenhouse effect. Without the radiative forcing supplied by CO²; and the other noncondensing greenhouse gases, the terrestrial greenhouse would collapse, plunging the global climate into an icebound Earth state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]